Behind These Shining Eyes
by CurlyOne
Summary: When a family friend of Peter's meets the Avengers, did they get themselves into more than they can handle? Or did she? Rated T just to be safe. Set in between AoU and Civil War. The Avengers know Peter Parker and the fact that he's Spider-Man.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One: The Beginning

Bright orange autumn leaves drifted along with the wind as a multitude of thoughts filled Lainey's mind. Her mind raced in time with the falling raindrops, splashing onto the sidewalk below. The brisk chill in the air caused her to pull her sweater closer to her skin.

Lainey's feet ached as she continued to walk home from school, alone. Again.

That's how it was everyday.

A repetitive cycle of waking up in the morning, going to school, and coming home. Nothing interesting ever happened in her neighborhood.

Well, nothing that interested her anyway.

"Lainey!"

The preteen turned around to see a familiar face coming towards her. "Peter?"

What was he doing in the Bronx? Didn't he live in Queens?

Lainey wondered if he was just in the neighborhood for his daily Spider-Man errands. She was the only one, besides Ned to know that he was everyone's "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man".

"What are you doing here?" The girl questioned. "I mean, not that I'm not glad to see you, because I am! I just…..you live a ways away from here." She smiled politely.

"Well, Aunt May and I haven't seen you and your mother in a while, so I figured I'd come down to see you." Peter explained, immediately brightening as he seemed to have remembered something right then and there. "And I have to show you the coolest thing!"

"What do you have to show me?" Lainey quirked an eyebrow.

Anytime the two were together and Peter said he had, "something to show her", they always ended up in some kind of trouble.

Not that trouble was something that Lainey was opposed to, she just didn't feel like getting into any today.

"It's going to be great, I swear!" Peter grabbed her hand and grinned, pulling her into the closest alley he could find. "Just trust me."

If there was anyone that Lainey trusted, it was Peter. "Fine. Can you at least tell me where we're going?"

"Nope." Peter popped the 'p'. "That's part of the surprise."

The teenager held a ski mask out to Lainey and she looked at in annoyance before finally relenting, pulling it over her face with a scowl.

"Climb on and hold tight." Peter hoisted her onto his back and flung his left arm out in front of him, shooting a web at the closest building.

Lainey closed her eyes and held Peter as tightly as she could.

 _This should be fun._ She thought to herself, trying to make the best of the situation.

* * *

"See? That was fun wasn't it?" Peter set Lainey down as he landed.

As soon as her feet touched the ground, Lainey ripped the ski mask off of her head and threw it on the ground, glaring at Peter.

"Wasn't it?" He backed away from the seething brunette.

Fun? That ride was anything but fun!

Peter had swung up, down, left and right, just to get what he thought were, "funny reactions" out of Lainey.

"You think this is funny?" Lainey snapped. "I fell off of you three times! Three times Peter Parker! And if that wasn't bad enough, you didn't catch me until the last minute! And you ruined my hair!"

Lainey didn't really care about her hair, she just needed something else to rant about.

She was on a roll, why end now?

"Lainey, I think you-"

"-No! Who do you think you are anyway?" Lainey continued to yell.

Peter rolled his eyes and crossed his arms, leaning up against a wall.

Hey, if she didn't want him to stop her from making a spectacle of herself, who was he to intervene?

"And to think that I-" Lainey cut herself off when her eye caught a familiar logo from across the street. "Peter?"

"Hmm?" He smirked as her jaw dropped in shock.

"Is this what I think it is?"

Lainey couldn't believe it. The Avengers Tower was right in front of her.

She had only ever seen it from really far away or in pictures. Never this close.

"Mmhmm."

"A-And you didn't just bring me here for Shawarma, right?"

"No Lainey, I did not just bring you here for Shawarma."

It was taking everything in Peter's power not to laugh at the gobsmacked expression on his younger friend's face.

"Well? Don't you want to go in?"

"I do…..but what about Tony Stark?" Lainey furrowed his eyebrows.

"What about him?"

"I can't just walk into a building uninvited!"

This time, Peter did laugh. Sometimes Lainey was a piece of work.

"Of course you can't. They know you're coming. Now are you going to stand there all day, or are you going to go inside?"

The interior of the building was absolutely gorgeous. Like nothing Lainey had ever seen. It was filled with technology that the brunette didn't even think had been invented yet.

"Come on, you haven't even seen the best part."

* * *

"Alright. Divide that by two and then multiply what you get by x, and you have your answer."

The two kids had been at the tower for a few hours and to pass the time, they decided to do their homework. Lainey wasn't very good at math, so it really ended up with Peter helping her with her homework while his sat untouched in his bag.

"Well you kids look like you've been having fun."

In that moment Lainey nearly froze.

Because right in the same room, was her favorite Avenger of all. Natasha Romanoff.

Her mind raced and her heart beat so rapidly inside of her chest that she thought it would burst, but she kept her outward appearance very neutral.

She wasn't Peter for crying out loud.

"Hello." She greeted the redhead politely.

Peter looked up from the work and waved at Natasha before turning his attention back to a problem he was trying to solve for the kid.

So Natasha and Lainey had nothing to do but stare at each other in silence.

Neither chose to make conversation for two different reasons.

Lainey didn't really know what to say and she didn't want to open up her mouth and put her foot in it, the way Peter often did.

Natasha on the other hand, wasn't speaking because she was scrutinizing the brunette. She heard a lot about her from Peter, but she finally had a face to go with the name of the girl she had heard so many stories about. She noticed that she seemed a little tense and kept herself from smirking. She could really mess with this kid. Peter practically belonged to Tony, but she could have fun with this one.

"Oh! Sorry! Natasha, this is Lainey. Lainey, that's Natasha." Peter snapped out of the nerd zone and introduced the two.

"Nice to meet you kid."

The assassin smiled at the preteen and moved closer to shake her hand.

Lainey smiled back and took it, making sure her grip was firm and that she wasn't looking at the ground.

Natasha was pretty impressed with the kid's grip. It was strong, but she could still practically smell the fear coming off of her. She was right. She was going to have a lot of fun with this kid.

Lainey noticed the redhead's smile right as it morphed into a smirk and couldn't help but feel the shivers that ran up and down her spine.

What had she gotten herself into?


	2. Chapter 2

_"_ _Nice to meet you kid."_

 _The assassin smiled at the preteen and moved closer to shake her hand._

 _Lainey smiled back and took it, making sure her grip was firm and that she wasn't looking at the ground._

 _Natasha was pretty impressed with the kid's grip. It was strong, but she could still practically smell the fear coming off of her. She was right. She was going to have a lot of fun with this kid._

 _Lainey noticed the redhead's smile right as it morphed into a smirk and couldn't help but feel the shivers that ran up and down her spine._

 _What had she gotten herself into?_

 **Chapter Two: Just Getting Starting**

That very question made its way to the back of Lainey's mind and remained there as she watched the Avengers dive into their food at the table.

They were all animals.

Well, all except Wanda, Natasha, and Steve. They ate like normal human beings should.

"So Alayna, that's your name? Correct?" Tony asked, attempting to strike up a conversation with the kid.

"Yeah. No one calls me that though, everyone calls me Lainey." The brunette kept her eyes on her fork as she twirled around the pasta in her plate.

It had been Steve's night to cook, and he was craving some Italian food, so he cooked up some spaghetti and meatballs for everyone.

And Lainey had to admit, it was one of the best meals she had ever had in her life. It was also the most fun she had in a very long time, through no fault of her own.

"Okay _Lainey_." Tony wiggled his eyebrows to make her laugh. "What gets you up out of bed every morning?"

Lainey stopped twirling her fork and cocked an eyebrow. _What got her out of bed in the morning?_

"Sorry Lainey, you'll have to excuse him. He's very, uh, forward." Steve sent her a small smile.

"Yeah, what he means to say is, what do you like to do?" Sam spoke up. He was trying to get her to open up more the entire night.

"Oh…..well I like to read…a lot."

Peter smirked at his friend and decided to help her out. She was just being shy like always. It was one of the things he loved about her.

"You know Natasha, Lainey likes to dance." He spilled the beans without even batting an eye.

The fact that Natasha didn't seem to be affected by the statement made Lainey wonder what exactly Peter had been telling the superheroes.

"Really?" The redhead spoke with a tone that lacked any emotion. "What genre?"

"Ballet, but my form is terrible. I'm a lot better at contemporary."

But before Natasha could respond. Lainey's phone went off, causing the young girl to look right at it.

Natasha noticed her eyes widening in alarm as she read the message that had been sent to her. She could see the fear on her face as she typed a response and stood up softly.

"I'm sorry, I have to go…Thank you for the meal, it was delicious…I have to go."

The joy that had been consuming the girl was now replaced with dread. Her tanned skin had paled and she looked as if she would be sick at any given moment. Her slim fingers shook as she put her phone in her pocket and grabbed her schoolbag.

"Wait Lainey, why don't you let me drive you home?" Steve stood up and moved to grab his keys.

As soon as he grabbed them, Wanda pulled him to the side and whispered something in his ear that made his eyebrows scrunch together.

"No! No. I can get home by myself. It's fine."

"No you can't. You don't even live in the borough. Come on Lainey, let him drive you home." Peter tried to plead with her.

Lainey looked at everyone in the room and saw that they all agreed with him.

How could she deny them?

"As long as it's no trouble."

"Trust me. I want to do this."

Lainey allowed Steve to lead her downstairs to his car and sat in the passenger seat as he slid into the driver's seat and turned the key in the engine. He made sure that Lainey was wearing her seatbelt before he even considered pulling away from the curb, which Lainey thought was really sweet.

The car was a blue 1978 Volkswagen Beetle with a chrome bumper and noisy transmission.

But it was a really cute car despite its flaws.

"So…..did you have fun?" Steve asked as he and Lainey rode on the FDR Drive.

There was a bit of traffic, and he noticed that Lainey had begun fidgeting while checking the time on her phone.

"Yeah, I had a lot of fun. Thank you for having me."

"Well you're welcome anytime. Any friend of Peter's is a friend of ours."

The statement calmed Lainey down just a little bit as traffic let up.

The rest of the ride was ridden in silence. Lainey was too far in her own mind to speak to the super soldier sitting beside her. She wasn't trying to be rude, and he knew that.

"Is this it?" Steve asked, pulling over in front of a brick building.

"Yeah. Thank you so much. I hope this wasn't any trouble."

"Don't mention it." He waved her off.

"Well I really appreciate it." Lainey smiled and opened the car door.

But before she could leave, Steve put a hand on her arm.

And the reaction he got from it was something he was hardly expecting.

Lainey flinched violently and wrenched her arm away from Steve, stumbling out of the car as if she had been stung.

"Woah! Be careful." Steve looked at her with concern, jumping out of his car to come to her aid.

But Lainey wouldn't let him touch her. She quickly stepped away from him in an attempt to catch her breath and calm down. Once she did, she looked at Steve with regret etched in her features.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"-Is something going on at home?"

"What? No! I was just daydreaming and you really caught me off guard, you know? I just got startled is all. I'll see you soon, okay?"

Steve nodded and watched her enter the building before getting back into his car to drive home.

He knew something was wrong, he just couldn't do anything about it because he didn't exactly know _what_ was wrong.

And that feeling of helplessness bothered him to no end.

* * *

"You were right."

Wanda looked up from the book she was reading to turn her attention to Steve.

He was standing in the doorway of her room, looking troubled. The way he usually did when he was feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders.

"Right about what?"

"Lainey." He sighed, making his way over to her. "There _is_ something wrong. I just don't know _what_."

"What happened?" Wanda furrowed her eyebrows.

During dinner she had pried through the kid's thoughts, but she didn't go too far. She wanted Lainey to trust her, not fear her. She had found out that there was something or someone in Lainey's life that she was terrified of, but the girl had pushed those thoughts so deep in the back of her mind, that it was hard for Wanda to look without alarming her.

So she left it alone and told Steve that something was up before the two left.

"She was fidgeting the entire ride and she was so quiet that it was hard to make any type of conversation with her." Steve ran a hand through his hair. "When I got her home, she opened the door to step out of the car…I was going to give her my number so she could call if she needed anything, so I put a hand on her arm."

"Did she freak?" Wanda asked, already knowing the answer to the question.

"She flipped. She flinched away from me and jumped out of the car! And after she calmed down enough to speak, she apologized to me!"

"There is something that she is afraid of."

"And we're going to find out just what that is."

* * *

Meanwhile, Natasha was sitting on her bed, typing away at her computer, searching.

She was searching for any information she could find on Lainey that would confirm her suspicions.

It didn't take long for the spy to find what she was looking for and click the link.

 _Woman pleads not guilty for allegations of child neglect._ The title of the article read.

 _39 year old Allison Taylor denies all claims to brutally breaking her child's left arm and locking her out of the apartment the two share for more than three days._

 _On Wednesday, July 21st of 2012, a neighbor of Taylor's called police on suspicions of child neglect as she claimed to have seen nine year old Alayna Taylor sitting in the hallway of the building, clutching a broken arm._

 _The adult and child continuously denied any allegations and the court case was closed due to lack of witnesses and the fact that Alayna herself confirmed that she had gotten hurt on the way home from school, riding her skateboard and was sitting in the hallway because she had lost her keys._

Just as she thought.

Lainey was abused.

* * *

 **A/N: Hello! Thank you for reading this far! This is a little story I've had in my head for a little while now, and I've finally decided to share it with you all. I know what I have in mind for the next few chapters, but if you have any ideas of what should happen after that, just let me know!**


	3. Chapter 3

_Just as she thought._

 _Lainey was abused._

 **Chapter Three: Just Ride it Out**

 **A/N: There is some abuse in this chapter, because, unfortunately, it has to get worse before it can get better.**

"Where the hell have you been?"

Lainey's head turned in the direction her mother and cringed both inwardly and outwardly.

She had been hoping that the woman would've been too drunk to notice her coming through the door.

"Well? Are you going to stand there looking like an idiot or are you going to answer my question?" She demanded, putting her hands on her hips.

Lainey's nose wrinkled at the overwhelming smell of alcohol in the room.

There were a few bottles of beer on the table and one in her mother's hand.

"I was with Peter."

She figured that if her mother knew she was with a family friend, then she wouldn't overreact.

But she was sadly mistaken.

"Who the hell is Peter?" The older woman took a swig from the bottle of Jack Daniels in her hand.

"Peter Parker…..Don't you remember? Peter and May? We used to have dinner together."

The muscles in Allison Taylor's face scrunched together as she thought about what Lainey had just told her.

"What were you two doing?"

Lainey didn't really know what to tell her.

What if Peter didn't want anyone to know about him and the Avengers?

"We went into the city and had dinner together."

"With who?"

The tension was growing in the air. Lainey knew that she had to say something before she made the situation a whole lot worse than it should be, so she told her mother the truth.

"We had dinner at the Avengers Tower."

And even though it was the truth, Allison didn't believe a word that came out of her mouth.

"Yeah, and I had brunch with the Queen of England." She set the bottle down on the counter.

An audible 'thud' was heard once the glass and the marble top connected.

Things were not looking good for Lainey.

Her heart raced inside of her chest as she fumbled for things to say.

But nothing came.

"You know, most parents have kids who don't lie to them every time they open up their mouths. Why can't you be like that?" Allison laughed.

But there wasn't anything funny going on.

"I'm sorry, I'll go do my homework." Lainey gave up trying to plead her case and made her way to her room.

But before she could make it, Allison grabbed her arm and yanked her back towards her.

The grip she had on the girl was tight enough to get a reaction out of her, but Lainey grit her teeth and tried to block out the pain.

Her mother's eyes bore into her own, making sure Lainey knew just how angry she was.

As if the lack of circulation in her arm wasn't any indication.

"I'm not finished with you yet."

Here it comes.

Lainey knew what was going to happen after the bitter words left her mother's mouth, so she closed her eyes and hoped for the best.

But the odds were not in her favor.

"I trusted you enough to tell me the truth, but apparently I've been too lenient with you."

A gasp escaped Lainey's throat as Allison shoved her up against the wall behind her. Her back took a hard hit before she hit the ground from the impact.

But she refused to cry. She had been through this enough times to know that if she didn't make a sound, her mother would eventually tire herself out and leave her alone to pass out on the couch or something.

 _Just ride it out._ She thought to herself as she stood back up, keeping a considerable distance between her and her seething mother.

"Where did I go wrong? I raised you right! I taught you good morals! And you still end up a worthless hood rat!"

"Mom I-"

A slap to the face by a hand covered in rings was all it took to get Lainey to shut her mouth. A familiar thick liquid ran down her nose and a metallic taste hit her tongue.

But Lainey didn't dare spit it out.

 _You'll be okay. Just ride it out._

"I'm sick and tired of you acting as if you own the place!" Another slap.

 _Everything will be alright. You'll see. She always does stuff like this. She doesn't mean it._

"How much more of this do I have to put up with? Do you want me to snap?"

The wind was knocked out of the brunette when her mother reeled an arm back and punched her right in the stomach.

Her body trembled involuntarily as another hit landed before she could catch her breath.

All her muscles constricted and her legs gave out, sending her cashing onto the wooden floor below.

 _It'll be over soon. I promise._

* * *

"Wait a minute, wait a minute. You think the kid's being abused?" Sam asked once everything was out in the open.

Steve had called an emergency meeting to discuss his suspicions. He told everyone exactly what happened during the car ride a few hours prior and insisted that they gather as much information and evidence as they could to help.

"I don't think, I know. You didn't see her face Sam. She thought I was going to attack her or something. Someone is hurting her, I just don't know who."

"Well she isn't going to tell us anything, so what are we going to do?" Bruce asked.

He really wanted to help the girl. He thought she was so sweet and so unlike most girls her age. She had seemed so happy with them, he didn't want that to change.

"We can stop by her house and see if she's alright." Wanda suggested.

"If what you're saying is true, and she is being abused, then we really can't go barging in her apartment no matter how much we want to. It won't help her at all. It's just going to make it worse." Tony spoke up, typing away at something on his laptop.

He was right.

What if they went in there to help, and whoever was hurting Lainey would just get angry and take it out on her the minute they were alone again.

That meant calling the police was out of the question too.

"I found something that will help." Natasha turned her laptop around so they all could see and read the file she had read before she was called down.

"Her mother?" Steve looked horrified.

His eyebrows had shot up high on his forehead and his eyes were as big as saucers. Even when he thought he had adjusted to the new ways of life in this century, something came along and proved that he still had a lot to learn.

What kind of mother did something like this to their own flesh and blood?

Their own child?

"Her mother." The redhead confirmed. "And it looks like someone found out and called the police, but Lainey and her mother denied everything."

"Why didn't she say anything?" Wanda asked, wishing that she had spoken up sooner after she went through Lainey's mind.

Maybe she could have prevented all of this.

Maybe, instead of looking for ways to help save Lainey from the one person who should be taking care of her, they would be sitting around watching a movie or playing a few games.

She couldn't help but feel that part of this was her fault.

"She's afraid of her mother. She probably thought that if she spoke up, her mother would hurt her. I bet she ended up worse off than ever anyway. The thing that doesn't make sense is the fact that the case was dropped, just like that." Natasha snapped her fingers together tp prove the point she was making.

"Even if they both denied the allegations, there should've been an investigation. Something just isn't right." Tony ran a hand over his face. "F.R.I.D.A.Y. get my suit ready."

"He's right. Suit up. We've got a girl to help." Steve spoke, determination crossing his features as he stood up.

* * *

Lainey remained on the floor, curled into herself, hoping that her mother would just leave her be.

But it seemed like with every hit the woman landed, the angrier she became.

Lainey didn't know how much more she could take.

Her throat was sore from all the screaming she had done and her eyes were bloodshot and puffy from all the tears that she couldn't stop from spilling over.

And to top it all off, she getting tired. Her eyes just wouldn't stop fluttering closed no matter how valiant her attempts were to keep them open.

 _Just ride it out. It'll be over soon. Everything will be okay….It'll be okay._

Lainey's eyes fluttered close for the last time as the pain in her body reached a peak, and she knew no more.

* * *

 **A/N: Yay! The Avengers to the rescue! This chapter was a little challenging to write because of all the things I wanted to hint at without giving anything away. What do you think is going on behind the court cases? Although the Avengers know, Lainey isn't out of the woods yet! Hopefully, I'll manage to make these chapters longer. Stay tuned! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

_Lainey remained on the floor, curled into herself, hoping that her mother would just leave her be._

 _But it seemed like with every hit the woman landed, the angrier she became._

 _Lainey didn't know how much more she could take._

 _Her throat was sore from all the screaming she had done and her eyes were bloodshot and puffy from all the tears that she couldn't stop from spilling over._

 _And to top it all off, she getting tired. Her eyes just wouldn't stop fluttering closed no matter how valiant her attempts were to keep them open._

 _Just ride it out. It'll be over soon. Everything will be okay….It'll be okay._

 _Lainey's eyes fluttered close for the last time as the pain in her body reached a peak, and she knew no more._

* * *

 **Chapter Four: Promises Are Made To Made to be Broken**

It took Allison a few minutes to realize that Lainey had slipped into the realm of unconsciousness.

She had been releasing all of her anger and frustration out on the girl without ever thinking of her wellbeing.

Not that she truly cared anyway.

She was too wrapped up in her own little world to ever notice what was going on with Lainey. She wallowed in her own misery at work, came home upset, and drank her time away.

And once she was drunk, she'd find something, anything that was wrong and blame Lainey for it. She would insist that she pay the price.

Today's problem was the fact that her boss treated her like a gopher.

She felt completely and utterly humiliated, deciding that it was her daughter's fault that no one respected her.

How could anyone give her the respect that she demanded at the workplace if her own kid didn't respect her at home?

Lainey's limp form was slumped up against the pale white wall of the living space, still tense from the ordeal.

"Why can't you just listen to me?" Allison yelled at the girl. "None of this would be happening if you would just listen! I'm trying my best! Don't you understand that?!"

"With all due respect ma'am, which is none at all, most people who are trying their best with their children don't beat them to a pulp." A new voice spoke in the unusually quiet apartment.

Allison whipped around in the direction of the voice and found someone she wasn't expecting.

Captain America himself.

Her jaw dropped at the very sight of him.

She didn't know how to respond to his presence.

So she put on a fake smile and decided to play it cool.

"This isn't what it looks like. She pushed me to my limit. I had to stop her."

"Then why didn't you just talk to her?" Steve kept his eyes trained on Allison as Natasha expertly picked the lock on the front door and slipped in.

The redhead glared steadily at the woman before making her way over to Lainey.

She made sure the kid's breathing wasn't labored and checked to see if she didn't have any apparent broken bones before scooping her up in her arms.

"Hey!" Allison snapped, sensing she was being set up. "What do you think you're doing with her?"

"Getting her to a doctor." Wanda floated in with Sam in tow, fingers ready to manipulate the woman should the need arise.

"Give me back my kid! You have no right to take her!" Allison took a threatening step towards Natasha.

Big mistake.

The redhead gently handed Lainey over to Sam, shushing her once she heard her groan in pain, before turning back to Allison.

"Natasha-" Steve cut himself off knowing that it wasn't in his best interest to stop the assassin from acting on what she was feeling.

"Get her on the quinjet. Now."

"Don't you dare take my kid from me!"

The commotion seemed to rouse Lainey to the point of consciousness.

The brunette opened her eyes and looked around, very confused by what was happening.

A few minutes ago she was alone with her mother.

Now she was in the arms of an Avenger?

"Put me down." She squirmed in Sam's grip despite the immense amount of pain it was causing her.

"Kid, I don't think you're up for it."

"Put me down!" She stressed.

She needed to get down.

Natasha was going to kill her mother.

And as much as she disliked the woman, she couldn't let that happen.

"Get her to the quinjet Sam. Have Bruce take a look at her." Natasha spoke firmly, this time staring Lainey down to stop any arguments before they started.

"On it."

Sam walked to the fire escape and jumped off, activating his jets before flying up to the awaiting quinjet.

"We got her out, but she's hurt pretty bad." He told both Bruce and Tony. "Nat, Steve, and Wanda are still down there taking care of things."

"Lay her down right here for me." Bruce pointed to an examination table as he gathered a few supplies from a medical bag he had brought with him.

Lainey didn't go down without a fuss.

She hated doctors with a passion.

She didn't care how much she liked Bruce, he was a doctor.

And doctors always poked and prodded at things they weren't supposed to.

"Lainey I need you to calm down for me, okay? I know you're scared, but you're really hurt and you might make it worse by moving around." Bruce spoke gently.

That did nothing to calm the kid down.

All she did was scoot as far away from him as she could without falling off the table.

"Lainey. Are you in pain?"

Lainey nodded, not sure why he even had to ask.

Of course she was in pain!

"Do you want to feel better?"

Another nod.

"Then you have to let me help you. I can't do that if you're moving around honey. If you keep it up, I'll have to sedate you. I don't want that to happen, do you?"

There was something about the gentle way he spoke that finally caused Lainey to relax, just enough for her to stop wriggling and shake her head.

"Good. You just lie down just like you are now."

"Will it hurt?" Her voice came out just above a whisper.

"I'll be honest with you. It will. But I'll try my best to take it easy."

"Okay."

Lainey's muscles unclenched and she allowed Bruce to look her over, wincing as he gently pressed down on her ribs.

"Does that hurt?"

"Mmhmm."

Bruce furrowed his eyebrows and pressed on another area, eliciting a whimper from the kid.

"Your ribs are badly bruised, but they're not broken. You'll have to ice them later on."

He watched as Lainey squeezed her eyes shut as tightly as she could while his hands traveled down to her legs to make sure that they weren't broken.

Sure enough, he did find a break.

Right in her left leg.

"Your left leg is broken. I'm going to have to set it."

As Lainey's eyes widened, Bruce knew he was going to have to get some help, or sedate the girl.

"No no, don't look at me. I can't. I get antsy." Same raised his hands up in surrender.

Tony couldn't help either, he was in the pilot seat of the quinjet, waiting for news from the rest of the team.

So very reluctantly, he pulled a needle from his bag and took a deep breath.

"No...no...no." Lainey whimpered, trying to move away from the large needle.

"Sam, you don't have to help me set the bone, but I need you to hold her."

"Now that I can do." He replied, gently grabbing ahold of Lainey, stilling her so to make it easier on Bruce.

"Lainey, I'm going to put the needle in now. Stay very still, alright? It'll all be over soon. I promise."

Lainey let out a sob as she watched the sharp object make its way over to her and pierce her skin, allowing the sedative to course through her veins.

"That wasn't so bad, was it?"

Of course it was.

He just stabbed her with a needle the size of a knife!

She just wanted to go home.

Why wouldn't they let her go home?

"How long does it take to set in?" Sam asked, watching Lainey try to fight the drug.

It was a losing battle.

"Not much longer." Bruce took ahold of Lainey's leg, preparing to set it.

Once her eyes glossed over and her body relaxed, Bruce allowed Sam to let go of her and turn away.

He had given Lainey enough of the sedative to relax her, but not to put her to sleep.

He didn't want to put her to sleep after all that had just happened.

"Nat, Wanda, and Steve are on their way up." Tony informed them.

"Good. Maybe they can handle this, but I sure can't." Sam muttered, pacing nervously.

He hated looking at broken bones. He had to set enough of them back in his days in the force. To this day, the sight of a bone out place and the sound of it popping back in made him cringe.

"How's she doing?" Steve asked, climbing in with Wanda and Natasha.

"I was just about to set her leg."

"Is she asleep?" Wanda asked, stroking the kid's hair.

"No, I sedated her. She's still awake, she's just calm." Bruce smiled in thanks as Steve held the upper part of Lainey's leg still.

"How bad off is she?" Natasha didn't even blink as Lainey's bone was cracked back into place.

"Well other than what you can see, she's got a few bruised ribs. Physically speaking, she should be okay in a few weeks, the break wasn't too bad." Bruce explained while wrapping the child's leg.

He didn't have all of his equipment on hand, so they would have to bring her into Dr. Cho's lab for a cast and crutches.

Lainey slowly opened her eyes and raised her hand to bite her nails.

And Steve, being the mother hen he is, gently pulled her hand away from her mouth and rubbed her knuckles.

"What kind of mother beats the crap out of their own kid?" Tony wondered aloud from the pilot seat.

Nobody had an answer.

No one could come up with anything close to an acceptable answer to his question, so they all sat in silence.

Once in a while, one of them looked at Lainey to make sure she was alright.

She looked so small.

If only they had kept her at the Tower instead of letting her go home.

She would have been safe.

She would have been safe and she wouldn't be in any pain.

There was nothing they could do about what happened to her now.

But there _was_ something they could do for her in the future.

As they got closer to the Compound, they all vowed to keep Lainey safe.

No one was going to hurt her again.

Not if they could help it.

* * *

 **A/N: This chapter was a little slower in pace than I wanted it to be, but it's moving along! There's still a whole lot of angst ahead, but I promise, it gets better!**


	5. Chapter 5

_She looked so small._

 _If only they had kept her at the Tower instead of letting her go home._

 _She would have been safe._

 _As they got closer to the Compound, they all vowed to keep Lainey safe._

 _No one was going to hurt her again._

 _Not if they could help it._

* * *

 **Chapter Five: Escape Attempts, Truths, and Distractions**

An annoyingly consistent beeping awakened Lainey from her slumber.

As her eyes fluttered open, she noticed that she was in a small white room, laying on a hospital bed with an IV attached to her arm and a cast on her foot.

She looked down at her clothes and realized that they were different. They were loose, comfy, and big.

Someone had lent them to her.

Which meant that someone also found the marks decorating her entire body.

She had to get out of here.

A pair of metal crutches were leaning up against a wall next to her bed.

As she moved to sit up, she began to look around the room for an escape route.

And to her luck, she didn't find one.

So she pulled her legs over the edge of the bed, ripped the IV out of her arm, and grabbed the crutches beside her, making her way to the door.

Walking around in public with just a large t-shirt covering her wasn't very ideal, but it was better than a hospital gown.

Or worse, nothing at all.

She stumbled around a bit before gaining her balance, due to the fact that she had never used crutched before, but she eventually got the hang of it.

Most of the injuries that she got from her mother weren't this severe.

The woman _had_ broken her arm, but it didn't hinder much.

As she trudged to the door, it opened, revealing a woman with beautiful almond shaped eyes and a smiling face.

Well, until she saw Lainey out of bed.

"What are you doing out of bed?" She asked, putting her hands on her hips. "You're injured!"

Yeah, no kidding.

Lainey looked at the woman and furrowed her eyebrows.

Leaving was going to be harder than she thought with her here.

"Get back in bed before you hurt yourself."

The brunette refused, causing the woman to raise her eyebrows and shrug.

"That's alright with me, I'll just call someone to put you back in bed. It's your choice." She threatened.

But Lainey wasn't phased.

She stood her ground and refused to move, so the woman huffed in annoyance and left the room.

 _Well that was easy_. Lainey thought as she left the room and turned a corner to avoid anyone that could potentially take her back.

"Hey!"

Too late.

Lainey turned around and saw Steve running towards her. There was no way she was going to outrun him on crutches, so she just stayed where she was and waited for him to get to her.

"Dr. Cho told me she found you out of bed, but I didn't expect to see you out of your room." He crossed his arms.

And Lainey had to admit that she did feel slightly intimidated by him.

He was so tall that he practically towered over her.

No.

He _did_ tower over her.

"What are you doing?" He asked finally.

"Going home." Lainey huffed, hoping to make him go away. "And you can't stop me."

"Lainey, you don't have to be afraid. No one here is going to hurt you. We just want to help you."

"I don't want your help. I want to go _home_." Lainey stressed.

"Lainey, listen to me. You can't go home, it isn't-"

"-Is everything okay?" A new voice asked.

It was Natasha.

She had just finished debriefing with Fury and had come down to check on Lainey.

The redhead clearly knew the answer to the question, but she wanted to ask anyway.

"I'm going home."

"Oh are you now?" A smirk played at her lips as she looked down at the kid.

Lainey could barely hold herself upright. How did she think she was going to get home?

"Don't laugh at me, I have to go home."

The poor girl looked desperate, as if her life depended on her going back to the place where she lived in fear.

"Lainey, your mother-"

"-Why do you feel like you need to go home?" Natasha cut Steve off before he upset the girl.

Maybe if she spoke to her long enough, she would be able to help her relax and trust them a little.

"I have to go home, you have to let me go!"

Lainey's face was suddenly stricken with panic and she tried her best to turn and leave, but Natasha grabbed her by the arm and pulled her close in an effort to calm her nerves.

"Lainey, I know you feel like you have to go, but we can't let you. Your mother is in custody because she hurt you. We can't allow you to go back."

"She didn't mean to." The girl mumbled.

"She still did it. Don't you know what could've happened if we didn't find you when we did?" Steve asked, his voice was soft and gentle.

He didn't want to insult her by telling her what he truly thought about her mother, but she had to see the gravity of the situation.

"She probably just had a lousy day at work. She gets like that sometimes, you know? It isn't her fault, it's mine. Sometimes I get in her way."

Natasha's green orbs flashed with anger and she quickly bent down to meet Lainey's height, firmly taking ahold of her shoulders.

"There is no excuse for that kind of behavior. Nothing you did caused this. She was wrong. She's the one at fault. No one should ever put their hands on you. I don't care what you did, or what you didn't do." Natasha forced a smile onto her face before continuing. "Now let's get you back in bed. I'll see if I can sneak in some brownies for you later."

The Russian looked at Lainey with such certainty that the preteen felt as if she had to believe her.

Maybe she was right.

Maybe this wasn't her fault.

And maybe she didn't deserve this.

She wasn't sure.

She was just confused and at this point, she just wanted to see a familiar face.

"Can I call Peter?"

* * *

"Happy?"

Peter furrowed his eyebrows in confusion when he saw his mentor's bodyguard standing by his car in front of his school.

"Is that Happy Hogan? Like, the bodyguard of Tony Stark? Dude can I meet him?" Ned's smile was so wide that Peter thought his face would split in two.

And maybe if they had stayed longer, it would've.

"Mr. Parker!"

When the arachnid looked at Happy, he saw that he didn't look pleased.

What had he done now?

"Hi Happy. What are you doing here? Is everything okay?"

"Get in the car, I'm under orders to bring you to the Compound." Happy told him, opening the car door.

The ride upstate was longest Peter had ever been through.

He kept wracking his brain to find something, anything that he had done to provoke Tony or any of the other Avengers.

And when he couldn't think of anything, he tried to remember if he had forgotten some meeting he was supposed to attend that day.

Maybe that was why Happy came to pick him up.

Or maybe there was a small mission Tony wanted him to go on.

Nah.

He was still too young to go on missions.

 _So what could it possibly be?_ Peter thought as Happy pulled the car up to the front of the building.

His mind raced as he got out of the car and made his way to where Tony wanted to meet him.

What if someone was hurt?

What if someone had died while he was in school?

Was it Aunt May?

It couldn't be Aunt May.

He needed her too much!

She was all he had left!

If she was gone, than what would he-

"Oh Kid! Good. You're here." Tony interrupted Peter's thoughts as the teen walked through the doors.

"Mr. Stark, what's going on? I thought I didn't have training today, Happy picked me up after school! Is everyone okay? Did someone-"

"-Peter!" Tony cut the boy off. "It's Lainey. She's been hurt."

All the color drained from Peter's face and he immediately sat down on a love seat behind him.

"What? I just saw her a few days ago! She was fine! What happened? Who hurt her?"

"There's no easy way to say this, but, Lainey's mother is the one who hurt her."

"You're kidding." Peter shook his head in disgust. "Lainey's mother….She wouldn't do that….Would she?"

Well, Aunt May did tell him that she had called her and almost never received an answer.

And when she did, the woman was always rigid and on edge when she was asked about Lainey.

"Peter?' Tony waved a hand in front of his face. "Are you okay?"

It was a stupid question, but he felt like he had to ask it.

"Yeah…..Yeah." Peter responded distantly.

Why hadn't he seen it before?

She had been showing so many signs.

"She's okay now, but she's got a broken leg and she's been asking for you. I think her excitement of meeting the Avengers has worn off and she doesn't want to be around strangers anymore…...Which, by the way, is completely understandable." Tony rambled to fill the tension filled gap of silence.

"How has she been? I mean, is she scared? Is she hungry? Because I can go out and get her some snacks! She likes sour gummy worms right? And lemon iced-"

"-Peter. She just wants to see you. Don't worry about her too much. Natasha's been taking care of her. If I didn't know any better, I'd think she's really fallen in love with that kid."

"How did you find out? Did she tell you anything?"

"Wanda, Natasha, and Steve felt something was wrong after Steve dropped her home, so we all got together and got her out of there. She didn't tell us anything. We were hoping that when you went in, you'd be able to get her to talk to you about what's been happening and how long it's been happening."

"I could try…..I just…..I don't understand…How could her mother do this to her?" He sighed and made his way to Lainey's room.

As Peter thought about what could've happened to Lainey, his face flushed in anger.

The woman who hurt her was her mother!

She was the one who was supposed to protect her!

"Oh hi Peter. How are you?" Natasha greeted the teen as he stepped into the room.

She was playing poker with Lainey to keep her occupied.

Well, sort of.

It was also a small training exercise to school her features, just incase she was ever in a situation where she needed to.

Sneaky right?

"Hi. I came by to see Lainey…...Mr. Stark called. He said you've been asking for me." Peter spoke, lingering by the doorway.

"Well come in." Natasha smiled and watched as he sat down. "Lainey, put those cards down, Peter came by to see you."

Lainey huffed in annoyance of her interrupted game and looked at Natasha with a sad face.

"See that?" Natasha waved a finger. "That doesn't work on me. Put the cards down and say hello. Or I'll peek at your hand."

Lainey smiled and put her cards face down on the bed, before greeting Peter.

"Hi!"

"Hi Lainey. Are you feeling okay? I heard you broke your leg, does it hurt?"

"It doesn't hurt at all! Did Tony tell you? I had to get sedated!"

Peter furrowed his eyebrows.

Lainey was awfully chipper for someone who was just beaten up and sedated.

" _She's blocking everything out._ " Natasha mouthed to him, noticing his confusion.

"Oh yeah? Why?" Peter took note of her comment and turned his attention back to Lainey.

"Because she wouldn't let Bruce set her leg any other way." Natasha playfully rolled her eyes when Lainey picked up her cards again. "I told you to put those down. Peter's here."

"He can play with us." Lainey smiled and grabbed the deck, handing Peter five cards.

"Lainey, we have to talk." Peter spoke gently.

It was pretty abrupt, but he didn't know any other way to bring it up.

He and Natasha watched as Lainey's body tensed.

Her fingers squeezed the red bicycle cards in her hands, causing them to crinkle under the pressure.

"I have a straight flush Ms. Romanoff." She spoke quietly.

Her voice was just above a whisper, and Peter and Natasha both knew she was close to tears.

"Lainey, we need to know what happened before we helped you. We can't do much until-"

"-Did I win? Can we play again? I'm getting really good, aren't I?"

"Yes honey, you're getting very good." Natasha knew that Lainey was trying to dodge the subject and if the circumstances weren't so serious, she would've let her. "Lainey, I know it's hard, but you have to talk to us. We can't help you if you don't."

"I can't."

"Why Lainey?" Peter asked with tears in his eyes. "Why can't you tell us?"

Lainey looked at her oldest and closest friend, and shrugged.

"Mom told me not to." She swallowed. "She said it would just get worse if I did."

"You don't have to be afraid anymore Lainey. Your mother is downstairs and in our custody. She can't hurt you anymore." Natasha told the girl.

"Promise?" Lainey offered up her pinky finger.

It was childish, but it was the only way she knew how to solidify a deal.

"I promise." Natasha didn't even hesitate to oblige the gesture.

"What do you want to know?"

"How long has this been happening?" Peter asked, afraid of knowing the answer.

"For a while now." Lainey shrugged.

"How long is a while Lainey?"

"Since she got laid off from her first job a couple years ago…She wasn't always like this. She was nice and she never yelled at me." Lainey smiled as a fond memory came to mind. "We used to go to the park to have picnics and play games…...She'd always let me win. Always."

The smile left Lainey's lips as she came back to reality. "And then she just changed."

"How did she change?" Natasha asked gently.

"She started coming home late, she yelled, threw things…...She started drinking a lot of alcohol. It made her really angry and aggressive. It was like she was a completely different person."

The brunette's hazel eyes were glossed over while her mind slipped into a deep thought.

She could remember the way her mother always smelled of vanilla and how her beautiful brown hair was always so neat.

Until it wasn't.

Her neat hair was now always thrown up in a bun and she always smelled of Jack Daniels.

The eyes that once shined as bright as the sun, were dimmer than dark of night.

Even her skin grew pale.

The woman who used to make her laugh when she was feeling upset became the person she was afraid to smile around.

And she could never figure out why.

For months, she thought it was something she had done.

But that was impossible.

She was just a kid.

What had happened to the woman she looked up to and loved so much?

Where had she gone?

"Did she ever throw things at you?" Peter asked.

"All the time." Lainey nodded and rolled up her sleeve to reveal a scar that ran from her forearm to her elbow. "I got this when she threw a bottle of beer at me…...I dodged it, and it smashed into the counter behind me. I would've been okay if I hadn't lost my balance and fell all over it."

"How often did stuff like this happen?"

"Almost everyday." Once Lainey saw the horrified look on Peter's face, she tried to make him feel better. "But it wasn't bad everyday! Sometimes, she would come home so drunk that she would just crash on the couch and forget about everything without even leaving a mark."

"That doesn't really make it much better Lainey. It's still wrong."

"I know, but like I said, she wasn't like that before. And people change! Maybe one day I'll wake up, and she'll be back to normal."

Wishful thinking.

"Lainey." Natasha held the girl's chin between her two fingers to get her undivided attention. "I don't want to upset you when I say this, but your mother will never change and you can't go back to her."

"I know."

The preteen just wanted so much to believe that her life would be as nice as it was before.

But it couldn't.

Because that's not the way the world works.

"But I have to go home…I don't have anywhere else to stay."

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about before you made your grand escape." Natasha smirked. "The boys, Wanda, and I talked…...and we think that you should stay here."

"You don't have to do that." Lainey furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

How could they all be so willing to invite her into their home when they had just met her?

Hadn't they already done so much?

"Let them Lainey. Let someone help you." Peter spoke. "Mr. Stark says that I can come by on the weekends and stay over the summer. If that makes you feel any better."

"Really?" Lainey perked up.

"Yeah, and we can do whatever you want."

"Okay!"

"You didn't have much of a choice anyway. A social worker stopped by when you were sleeping and gave Nat temporary custody."

The look that Natasha gave Peter was enough to make him blanche.

But it made Lainey crack a smile.

She loved to see Peter in uncomfortable situations.

It was amusing to her.

"I was glad to do it." Natasha spoke, still glaring at Peter.

"Look Nat, she was going to find out anyway! Wouldn't you rather her know now, than a couple of days from now?" Peter questioned nervously.

"I would have liked to have the pleasure of telling her myself."

Before Natasha could kill Peter, Lainey scooted closer to the woman and showed her the deck of cards that had long since been forgotten when they had started talking.

"Can we play another game?" She asked sweetly.

"I know what you're doing, and that won't work with me." The redhead told her.

"But I'm bored and you're supposed to keep me entertained…...I've been sitting in this hospital bed for hours and I don't feel entertained." Lainey made her bottom lip quiver.

"It doesn't work on me Lainey."

Peter sat back in his chair and watched.

He knew how convincing Lainey could be, and he knew how strong-willed Natasha could be.

He didn't know who would win the battle of wills, but he was more than happy to watch.

"What are you talking about? I only want to play. Why are you trying to over analyze it? Don't you want to play with me?" Lainey batted her long eyelashes at the assassin.

"Wow. You _are_ good." Natasha groaned.

She had been trained for a numerous amount of things, but never for a child with a good guilt trip.

"So you'll play with me Ms. Romanoff?"

"Yes, I'll play! Just stop with the faces and call me by my name." Natasha snatched the deck of cards from the brunette's hands and began to deal them out.

"But that _is_ your name." Lainey smiled and took the hand Natasha gave to her.

" _Ты развязный малыш, не так ли?_ " Natasha spoke in her native tongue, confusing the daylights out of both the children in the room. "You call me Natasha and nothing else. No 'Ms. Romanoff' and definitely no 'Ms. Natasha'. _Понять малышку?_ "

Lainey furrowed her eyebrows as her face scrunched up in confusion.

The look on her face was priceless.

"I asked if you understood me." Natasha smirked.

" _Sí, Yo comprendo pero no hablo Ruso. Hablo español y ingles por favor._ "

" _Como desées_ " Natasha started off in Spanish before finishing in Russian. " _малышка_."

"What does that mean?" Lainey asked curiously.

"Learn Russian." Natasha told her without missing a beat.

Lainey's jaw dropped as Natasha didn't pay her any mind. "Hmmph.'

Peter watched the two, trying so hard not to laugh at the way they were already getting on each other's nerves.

 _Oh yeah._ He thought to himself as Lainey crossed her arms when Natasha kept speaking to her in Russian, knowing that there was no way the younger girl could possibly understand her.

 _These two were made for each other_.

* * *

 ** _Ты развязный малыш, не так ли? - You're a cheeky kid, aren't you?_**

 ** _Понять малышку? - Understand baby?_**

 ** _Sí, Yo comprendo. Pero no hablo Ruso. Hablo español y ingles por favor. - Yes, I understand. But I don't speak Russian. I speak Spanish and English please._**

 ** _Como desées - As you wish._**

 ** _малышка_ _\- Kiddo, little girl, or babygirl._**

* * *

 **A/N: Happy New Year everyone! I know it's been a while, but I had a hard time setting the tone for this chapter, so I made it a little angsty in the beginning and lighthearted towards the end. Lainey's pain is far from over, I just thought I should give her a little break. Until next time! XOXO**


	6. Chapter 6

_"_ _Como desées" Natasha started off in Spanish before finishing in Russian. "Лапушка."_

 _"_ _What does that mean?" Lainey asked curiously._

 _"_ _Learn Russian." Natasha told her without missing a beat._

 _Lainey's jaw dropped as Natasha didn't pay her any mind. "Hmmph.'_

 _Peter watched the two, trying so hard not to laugh at the way they were already getting on each other's nerves._

 _Oh yeah. He thought to himself as Lainey crossed her arms when Natasha kept speaking to her in Russian, knowing that there was no way the younger girl could possibly understand her._

 _These two were made for each other._

* * *

 **Chapter Six:**

"Lainey, where are your crutches?" Steve asked the girl as he caught her roaming the common floor.

Lainey's head snapped in his direction as she stretched her arm out for a few jolly ranchers in a cabinet that she wasn't supposed to know about.

"In my room." She said simply, turning her attention back to the candy she was trying to snag.

The cabinet the jolly ranchers were in was too high for Lainey to reach, so she skillfully swung her good leg up on the counter while her hands gripped the bottom of the cabinet, and pulled herself up.

It was pretty risky, but she was really craving sweets.

"Lainey! What are you doing? Get down from there!'

And if Lainey didn't know any better, she would have thought that Steve had gone into cardiac arrest.

"Just a minute." Lainey's tongue stuck out of her mouth as she concentrated on putting the candy in her pocket without plummeting onto the kitchen floor. "I'm almost done. Just a few more."

But she didn't get a few more.

Steve lifted her onto his hip and closed the cabinet door.

Kill joy.

"Hey!"

"Don't 'Hey' me. You could've gotten hurt. You're not supposed to be climbing things and you're definitely not supposed to be walking around without your crutches." Steve spoke in what Lainey had decided to call his 'Dad Voice'.

She didn't know what having a father was like, but if she did have one, she thought that he'd sound just like Steve did in that moment.

"My leg feels a lot better. It doesn't even hurt! See?" Lainey moved her injured leg back and forth to prove her point. "It's been a long time since it broke. I can walk on it now."

It was true.

It had been about four weeks since her leg broke and it was healing pretty well, but Bruce still hadn't given Lainey the okay to walk around without crutches.

"Oh really? So if I tell Bruce what you've been doing, he'll be fine with it?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"Well…...no. But I hate crutches! They hurt my arms and I don't need them! My leg doesn't hurt…...at least not really." Lainey fiddled with her nails to avoid Steve's gaze.

"Lainey, how is your foot going to get better if you keep aggravating it?"

"I don't know." Lainey shrugged as her head stayed low with a little shame.

"From now on, you need to stay off of that foot. Understand?"

There goes the 'Dad Voice" again.

"Well what if-"

"-Alayna."

Uh oh. Her full name.

She had to listen to him now.

"Yes." She sighed, not liking this one bit.

"Good. Now where did you come from?"

"My room."

Steve had to take in a deep breath to calm himself down.

She had just traveled up three floors and a few hallways to get to the kitchen.

With a broken leg!

"If it makes you feel any better, remember that I had to take the elevator to get up here." Lainey tried and failed.

Steve shook his head and carried her back to her room, gently placing her on her bed and handing her a book.

"I know it's hard to sit still, but it's only until your leg heals. Then you can run around and do whatever you want."

Okay, maybe not _whatever_ , there were a lot of things he wasn't going to let Lainey do, but she didn't need to know that just yet.

They'd cross that bridge when they get to it.

"I see you two are getting acquainted."

Lainey couldn't help but giggle at the way Steve jumped nearly five feet in the air when he heard Natasha's voice behind him.

No matter how hard he tried to be aware of his surroundings, Natasha always took him by surprise.

"I wish you'd stop sneaking up on me like that Nat."

"I didn't sneak up on you. The door was open and I walked in." The redhead shrugged nonchalantly. "I came to talk to Lainey about something."

"I only went to the kitchen to get something to eat because I got hungry! See? And I didn't use my crutches because I wanted to get in and out!" Lainey couldn't help but blurt out, showing Natasha the colorful candy she had taken.

"That's not what I wanted to talk to you about, especially since I didn't know you've been walking around without your crutches." Natasha crossed her arms and cocked an eyebrows.

"…...Oh." Lainey cringed. "Well what did you wanna talk to me about then?"

She was hoping Natasha would forget all about her confession, which didn't seem likely.

"I enrolled you in school."

"Okay? So what?" Lainey urged, not really understanding why the woman was tip-toeing around the subject.

"It's a different school from where you used to go."

"Okay?"

"You're not at all upset by this?" Natasha raised an eyebrow.

"Nope." Lainey replied, popping the 'p'. "I like school. I always have…...since I surprised you and I'm not mad at you…...will you let-"

"-No."

"Oh come on! I only went to get something to eat!" Lainey whined pathetically.

Natasha had to fight to keep herself from laughing at the girl.

She looked hysterical.

In her small upset, she had sprawled herself out as much as she could and allowed her hair to fall in all directions.

She looked kind of adorable too.

"Which is exactly why I gave you that phone that's sitting on your dresser, which you don't use."

"Because technology is killing human interaction."

"That may be so, but you're still on bed rest until I say so."

Lainey let out a pitiful whine when she caught Natasha's smirk and got the urge to beam a pillow at the woman's face.

But then she thought about how many different ways Natasha could take that same pillow and kill her.

So she didn't.

Instead, she looked at Steve, who had been silent throughout the entire conversation, and gave him the sweetest puppy face she could imagine.

Her hazel green eyes met his blue ones, and he immediately started to melt.

"Be careful Steve." Natasha's voice had a playful ring to it. "She's manipulating you. You have to fight it."

Steve struggled under Lainey's gaze and tried to listen to his friend, but he couldn't help but feel for the girl.

She had been stuck using crutches for weeks and she had been on bed rest for quite a while.

What more could she possibly endure?

"Steve, you're a grown man."

Natasha was right.

He _is_ a grown man and he should be able to hold his own against a child.

"Sorry Lainey." He gained control of himself after a long period of silence. "What Natasha says, goes."

Lainey whimpered and tears sprang to her eyes. "Does this mean that you don't want me to get better? You want me to stay in my bed forever? That would make me sad Steve. I think i might cry."

And on the inside, Lainey was grinning as wide as a Cheshire Cat.

She knew Steve was just eating this up and she was loving it.

"Oh cut the crap and eat your candy before I take it away and let you starve." Natasha rolled her eyes and pulled Steve away from the child. "If you have to leave the room, it better be with those crutches Alayna."

There goes her first name again.

Lainey swallowed a fearful lump in her throat and nodded as Natasha dragged Steve out of the room.

If it had been anyone else, Lainey wouldn't have listened.

But this was Natasha. The Black Widow. The spy who used to work for the KGB!

She would be crazy to disobey her.

So while giving her crutches a once over, she decided that she wouldn't step foot off of her bed without them.

* * *

It had been a few weeks since Lainey was caught moving around without her crutches, and her leg had almost completely healed.

She didn't need the stupid things anymore, but she had to wear a boot on her leg until it completely healed, which made it a little hard to walk, and the movement usually gave her a dull pain.

It was still better than hopping around on crutches.

Natasha and Bruce were still hovering over her as if she was some sort of porcelain doll that would break if they looked at her too hard, but she had more pressing matters to deal with.

School.

She had been pretty excited to start at a new school, but she was still nervous.

Every time she thought about it, the butterflies in her stomach came to life and multiplied to the point where she felt as if she would vomit.

Sweat would trickle down her neck and her face would flush to a dark pink as her thoughts ran away from her.

 _What if no one liked her?_

 _What if no one wanted to talk to her?_

 _What if she had eat lunch by herself?_

 _What if the work was too hard?_

 _What if she failed?_

 _What if she failed because the teachers didn't like her?_

"Are you ready?" Natasha snapped her out of her thoughts.

Lainey's head snapped towards her and her shoulders heaved up and down as she tried to calm her breathing.

There was nothing to be afraid of.

She was just worrying too much. She was definitely ready.

"Yes." She nodded her head and slung her back onto both of her slim shoulders.

The weight of the books was pushing her down, making it harder and harder to breathe.

She wasn't ready. She was definitely _not_ ready.

But she couldn't let Natasha know that.

Not after she had told her that she wasn't at all alarmed by the fact that she had to go to school again.

What if she thought she was weak and insulted her for it?

Her mother always did.

Wow, these books were _really_ crushing her!

It felt as if someone had pushed her onto the ground and was holding her there, waiting for her to surrender.

"Lainey." She felt gentle hands rubbing her arms, trying to calm her down before she went into a frenzy.

She had been so trapped in her own mind that she didn't notice that Natasha had been trying to calm her down for a few minutes.

"Can you tell me what you're thinking?" Natasha pulled the backpack off of Lainey's shoulders and placed it on the floor.

"N….No." The preteen hesitated.

She didn't want Natasha to think that she was some sort of baby. She had whined enough after they had helped her get away from her mother. She needed to grow up.

"I can see something's bothering you, but I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong."

"I'm fine. I promise." Lainey cleared her throat to get rid of the painful lump that had made its home there.

But it just wouldn't go away.

It hurt so much that it made her eyes water and her body clench.

"You are _not_ fine. You're trembling _малышка_. Tell me what's wrong."

A fat tear rolled down Lainey's rosy cheek and her hand quickly wiped it away.

"I'm just cold." And before she could stop it, a sob escaped her throat, releasing the painful lump that had resided there.

Man she was pathetic.

She couldn't even go to school without making a fuss.

Maybe her mother was right about her.

She was definitely worthless and weak.

She needed to get a grip, she wasn't a baby anymore.

"I'm gonna miss…...my…...train." Lainey bit her lip to keep from crying out loud as she bent down to pick up her bag.

But Natasha stopped her and held her chin in her hand.

"You're not allowed to leave until you tell me what's going on."

And just like that, Lainey told Natasha the truth.

She couldn't help it. Natasha looked so concerned for her, that she felt really bad for not telling her sooner.

"I don't want…..." Lainey took a deep breath to steady her voice. "I don't want to go."

"Why not honey?"

"I don't know."

"You know…...I won't be upset if you tell me that you're nervous."

"I'm not…...What if something goes wrong? What if no one likes me?"

Natasha smiled fondly and brushed a stray hair from Lainey's face before reassuring her that everything would be okay. "What if someone _does_ like you? Hmm? You won't know unless you go and find out for yourself."

* * *

The sound of children laughing and joking around met Lainey's ear as she stepped foot onto school grounds. There were so many different kids around that it made Lainey feel a little better because instead of sticking out like a sore thumb, she could blend in.

"Hi!"

Maybe not.

"Hi." Lainey looked at the person who greeted her.

It was a girl who was about her height, with green eyes and medium length blonde hair. She was carrying a purple backpack and wore a shirt of the same hue.

So Lainey could only assume that the girl's favorite color was purple.

"You're new here, right? You're entering the eighth grade?"

When Lainey nodded, the girl clapped her hands together and smiled so widely that Lainey thought she might burst.

"Oh good! My name's Claire, I think we're in the same class."

Lainey scrutinized the bubbly girl suspiciously, wondering how one person could be _that_ happy so early in the morning. In fact, it almost annoyed her. It wasn't even nine o' clock and this girl was bouncing off the walls. What gives?

"I'm Lainey." The brunette politely introduced herself.

"It's great to meet you Lainey! I'm sure we'll be the best of friends!"

Lainey almost hurt herself, trying not to roll her eyes at Claire's enthusiasm. She was sure that if she was drinking something, she'd have spit it out. It was so sickening. Didn't this kid have anything to be upset about?

"Come on, I'll take you to the office." Claire smiled, linking arms with Lainey as she guided her through the school.

She was _so_ getting back at Natasha for this.

She was going to replace her conditioner with water and baking soda.

 _And_ she was going to spray paint all of her catsuits red, like the hair on her-

"And here's the cafeteria. Most of us eat outside when the weather is nice, so we can be one with nature…..."

Lainey chose not to listen to anything else that Claire had to say. She just tuned her out and took a look at everything surrounding her. The hallways were wide enough so traffic wouldn't be a problem getting from class to class, and the building smelt like Clorox and bleach.

The office wasn't too far from the main entrance, so she didn't have to suffer through too much of Claire's rambling, because once they got there, Claire bid her goodbye and went on her way.

'Nobody willingly goes to the principal's office', is what she had told Lainey before skipping off in the opposite direction.

 _Literally skipping_.

Lainey shuddered and pushed the glass door to the office open before making her way to the front desk, finding it necessary to stand on her toes to properly see over.

"May I help you dear?" A woman behind the counter asked gently, a soft tone in her eyes that made Lainey feel comfortable enough to speak with a little bit of confidence.

"Today's my first day and I was wondering if-"

"-Oh! You must be Lainey!" The woman smiled . "Here's your schedule. The only language class we have is Spanish, is that alright with you dear?"

"Actually, I speak Spanish…...and I'd rather not learn everything all over again."

"Perfectly understandable. You'll have a free period then. Let me take you to your room."

That was the high point of Lainey's day. It had to get better from here, didn't it?

Not really.

The whole day was a little boring for Lainey. The school's curriculum was pretty much a review for her and she didn't want to say anything for fear of someone thinking that she was rude.

So she sucked it up and did her work, finishing faster than anyone in the room, but pretending that she had been stumped by random questions on the page.

It wasn't ideal, but she could manage.

Besides, if she kept breezing through school like this, she would have more time for herself when she got home.

 _Maybe this isn't such a bad idea._ She thought to herself as she kicked a small pebble across the sidewalk, waiting for Peter to get out of school.

The pebble bounced off of her rubbered canvas shoe and bounced a few feet to left, landing near a single crack in the sidewalk.

 _Step on a crack, break your mother's back_. Lainey shrugged and hopped on the crack, landing on her good foot, before kicking the pebble again.

A small gust of wind caused her curly locks to blow into her face, making her look up from the ground to pull it away from her eyes.

And through her peripheral vision, Lainey could've sworn she saw someone staring at her. Her head snapped in the person's direction to see who it was, but when her eyes focused, she found no one.

Odd.

She couldn't help the sinking feeling she got in her stomach as the wind made the leftover leaves on the trees rustle and scatter the fallen ones across the ground. The conversations and laughter of the students and their parents who came to pick them up became distant, almost as if she was listening through the door with a glass cup. Their voices were muffled as her other senses sharpened, warning her of impending danger.

All of a sudden, the sky darkened and the clouds seemed to block out any source of light, making Lainey a little nervous.

But there was nothing to be nervous about.

She was safe.

 _I'm safe._ She chanted in her head, not even realizing that Peter was making his way towards her.

And she definitely didn't notice him until he put a hand on her shoulder. Her reaction was not a pleasant one. She nearly jumped out of her skin and whirled around with a raised fist, ready to attack if need be.

In fact, her fist would've caught Peter in the stomach if he didn't catch it in his own.

"Lainey, it's just me!" The arachnid threw his hands up in surrender, after letting hers go.

Hearing his voice, Lainey stopped attacking him and allowed herself to relax once again.

Nothing could hurt her when Peter was around. She believed that with every fiber of her being. He'd never let anything bad happen to her if he could help it.

"Oh, sorry. You just caught me off guard." Was her response.

She was trying to convince herself that whatever she was feeling was just her mind overreacting, yet again. No one was going to hurt her, not again.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm back! This chapter has been sitting on my laptop for a while now, but I didn't post it because I started working on another one and I wanted to post them together, but I changed my mind. Let me know what you think! Lainey's life is about to go into a downward spiral and not even she knows it yet. Will the Avengers be able to help? Or will they be the cause of her misfortunes? *smirks***


	7. Chapter 7

_Hearing his voice, Lainey stopped attacking him and allowed herself to relax once again._

 _Nothing could hurt her when Peter was around. She believed that with every fiber of her being. He'd never let anything bad happen to her if he could help it._

 _"_ _Oh, sorry. You just caught me off guard." Was her response._

 _She was trying to convince herself that whatever she was feeling was just her mind overreacting, yet again. No one was going to hurt her, not again._

 **Chapter Seven:**

"Alright class, time's up. Jot down your final answers and put your pencils down." Lainey's math teacher, Ms. Davis, spoke as she began walking around to collect test papers.

The test had been fairly easy for the preteen, she breezed through it while most of the class struggled. She didn't find anything challenging about pre-algebraic equations. As a matter of fact, she thought they were pretty fun to solve. But this wasn't always the case. When she was younger, she struggled with math so much that she practically failed every test and got most of the answers wrong on her homework assignments. The girl had become so frustrated, because she wanted to learn, that she got herself a math workbook and sat in her room, teaching herself formulas and strategies for hours on end.

That's when she found that she actually loved math.

"Make sure you all look over the next chapter so that you're familiar with the work for next week." The older woman spoke. "Have a nice weekend."

"Come on Lainey! Let's go jump rope for a while before we go home!" Claire smiled enthusiastically at the brunette. Her eyes shining brightly enough that Lainey thought she might need sunglasses to shield herself from the orbs of excessive happiness. "Ms. Davis let us out a little bit earlier than usual, so we have time!"

Lainey _really_ didn't want to jump rope with Claire. In fact, she didn't want to have anything to do with Claire. The blonde had been getting on her very last nerve since the day she transferred to the school, but she was trying her best to be nice and let her down easy.

"Lainey?" Ms. Davis peeked over the rim of her glasses she was using to go over the test papers. "May I speak to you for a minute?"

Lainey was more than eager to stay behind and speak to her teacher. Anything to get away from the Bubbly Blonde Bimbo, as Lainey had previously deemed her.

"I'll see you next week then?" Claire smiled, slightly disappointed by the fact that she wouldn't be able to hang out with Lainey, but not letting it ruin her day.

"Yeah, sure." Lainey forced a smile onto her face, sighing in relief once Claire left the room.

"Lainey, I wanted to speak to you about your test grade." Ms. Davis handed the girl her paper and allowed her to look over it before speaking again. "You got a perfect score."

"Thank you." Lainey smiled politely and moved to put the graded test in her bag.

"No, you don't understand. The rest of your teachers and I have been watching you for the last couple of weeks and your work has been absolutely flawless, which is hard to pull off, transferring in as late as you did."

"Thank you." Lainey slung her backpack over her shoulder, still not getting why her teacher had wanted to speak to her.

"The reason I asked to speak with you is because we think that you'd be better off skipping a grade. We've already spoken to the principal and he thinks it's a good idea."

Wait, what?

Lainey had just gone through the trouble of transferring into this school. Sure, she was a little well adjusted and a little comfortable, but that didn't mean she didn't struggle a little bit socially.

Although, transferring would mean never seeing Claire again.

That thought alone made Lainey interested in the proposition.

But then again, she didn't want to burden Natasha with the fact that she might have to go through more paperwork. That wouldn't be fair to her. Not after all she had done for Lainey.

"Thanks, but no thanks." Was all Lainey could say, leaving her teacher with a troubled expression as she walked out of the classroom.

* * *

"What's the matter CurlyLocks?" Tony asked, noticing that for the the few minutes Lainey had been home, she hadn't said a word.

Usually she'd be talking to Steve about WW2 and he'd tell her all about him and his old friend, Bucky. Or she'd be trying to learn a language that Natasha couldn't understand to get back at her for poking fun at her in Russian. Which, unfortunately for her, was no easy task. She spent most of her time searching, as opposed to learning.

Lainey narrowed her eyes at the pet name Tony had recently given her, that she secretly loved. It made her feel included and loved. But she couldn't let him know that of course.

He penned the name, 'CurlyLocks', which he explained, derived from 'GoldiLocks'. And he couldn't very well call her that, because her hair was brown, so he settled on 'CurlyLocks' and the name stuck.

"Nothing." She shrugged, not really wanting to talk about it.

"Well, I know it's not 'nothing', but I'm not going to force you to talk. Do you mind if I just sit here with you? Keep you company?" Tony motioned to the empty space on the common room's couch.

Lainey spared him another glance and nodded, scooting over to give him more room. She didn't mind Tony's presence. They just weren't very close and didn't interact very much apart from him giving her a pet name. But Lainey didn't blame him one bit. He was a busy man with his own company and a girlfriend, all while juggling being an Avenger. Lainey was still a stranger to him.

In fact, Lainey was pretty much a stranger to everyone excluding Steve and Natasha. She had been too shy to strike up conversations with any of them, for fear of getting in the way or being told she was sticking her nose somewhere it didn't belong.

"How are you feeling? You know, after…..." Tony trailed, trying to fill the awkward silence.

"I'm okay." Lainey's voice was soft and timid.

"You know, I understand how you're feeling. I had a parent who wasn't fit to be one when I was growing up."

That got Lainey's full attention. "Really? Your mother didn't treat you well?"

"No, my mother was wonderful…." Tony ran a tense hand over his face. "It was my father…He was the one who treated me like I wasn't even his son."

Lainey studied Tony's face, confused, yet honored that he was so willing to share something so personal with her. It had to be hard for him, since he always bottled up his emotions and put on a mask to protect himself.

"I…...It didn't bother me at first, because I had my mother, I had Jarvis, I even had Obadiah." He sighed tiredly.

"Obadiah? The man who tried to kill you a few years ago?" Lainey inquired, already knowing the answer, but unwilling to let the conversation die.

"Yeah, him."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't stress about it." The billionaire waved her off. "I didn't tell you all of this for you to feel sorry for me…...I told you, so you know that…...so you know-"

"-So I know I'm not alone?" Lainey helped Tony fish for words.

"Yeah. So you know you're not alone. It's easy for someone to tell you that, but I wanted to show you. You're a good kid, don't bottle things up the way I did. You have people here that care about you. Everyone here loves you, _especially_ Natasha. So, if you're feeling like crap, you have to let us know."

"Thanks Tony." Lainey smiled.

Maybe they weren't such strangers after all.

* * *

The sun's rays kissed Lainey's skin as they shined through her window while she did her homework, laying on her made up bed.

After her little talk with Tony, she had been feeling a lot more comfortable staying with everyone. She didn't feel as if she had to walk on eggshells whenever she entered a room anymore. And it felt good. She didn't feel like a helpless charity case.

And most importantly, she didn't feel like a burden.

A soft knock at the door snapped her out of her thoughts. "Come in Natasha."

"How'd you know it was me?" The former assassin asked, sitting down on the preteen's desk chair.

Lainey never used that desk. She always felt more comfortable doing work on her bed. She had to sit at a desk for six hours every school day, why would she want to do it at home too?

"Your knock is different from everyone else's. Your's is light and if I was making noise, I wouldn't have heard it." Lainey rattled off of the top of her head, while sitting up to face the redhead.

"Impressive."

"Perceptive." Lainey corrected with a smirk, making Natasha roll her eyes in jest.

"Actually, I came in here to talk to you about something."

"Oh." Lainey was all too familiar with talks that started like that. "It's about school, isn't it? They told you?"

Natasha only nodded in confirmation. "Your principal called and told me that you told your math teacher that you didn't want to skip a grade. Any reason?"

Lainey shook her head, not really sure how to respond.

"I'm not upset if that's what you're worried about. I just noticed that for the past couple of weeks, you've been finishing your homework at record speeds and your teachers have said that you get so bored in class that you fall asleep."

"You already went through a whole bunch of red tape. I guess, I was afraid to tell you…...but I'm not anymore."

"Good." Natasha didn't dwell on the mushy conversation for long. "Do you want to skip?"

"Yes Ms. Romanoff, I do." Lainey responded, completely forgetting to call the woman by her first name, grinning sheepishly at her mistake.

" _Сколько раз я должен говорить тебе называть меня Наташей? Я собираюсь задушить тебя!_ " Natasha glared playfully.

"I don't understand you when you speak Russian." Lainey pouted.

Her arms were crossed over her chest and she lowered her chin just so Natasha could see the mock sadness in her eyes.

"That's too bad. Maybe instead of learning a language that is unfamiliar to me just to confuse me, you should be learning Russian." Natasha was clearly less than phased by the twelve year old's antics.

She had gotten used to them by now. Peter told her all about Lainey's little tricks that she used to get her own way. If she thought that she could pull one over on Natasha now, she should probably think again.

"But Russian is hard." The playful pout never left Lainey's face.

Natasha couldn't stop herself from laughing softly at the child. She was a real piece of work. But she was _her_ piece of work. "Then let me teach you."

And before she could stop it, Lainey's entire face lit up like the lights on a Christmas tree. No one had ever taken the time to actually sit down and teach her a language. Sure, she learned Spanish from her mother, but that was only because back then, Allison's English wasn't that great. But for someone who had done so much for her already, to sit down and teach her their mother tongue, was touching to say the least.

"And if you're positive that you want to skip a grade, I'll call your school." The redhead pulled her phone out, ready to dial the number.

"I want to."

And that was all Natasha needed to hear to dial the number.

* * *

" _Что бы Вы хотели на завтрак?_ " Natasha asked a groggy Lainey as the girl dragged herself across the room.

The weekend came and went. Natasha had spent most of her time invested in teaching Lainey how to speak and read Russian. To her surprise, the twelve year old caught on fairly quickly and was now able to say some simple phrases in the language.

" _Ничего такого_." Lainey shrugged as she sat down on a stool at the island in the kitchen, allowing her head to fall onto her arms.

"You can't just not eat on your first day of high school." Natasha's face held so much fondness for the child in front of her.

"Fine then, I'll have an apple." Lainey rolled her eyes and grabbed a bright Granny Smith Apple from a bowl on the counter and took a big, sour bite out of it, smiling as the taste filled her mouth.

"Are you nervous?" Natasha asked suddenly.

She had been trying gauge whether or not Lainey had the jitters all weekend, the girl seemed fine, but it could very well have been a front.

"A little...….but I have Peter…...and Ned. Michelle likes me well enough." Lainey explained.

Natasha smiled fondly and poured herself a cup of coffee in her favorite mug. Lainey had gotten her the mug a while ago...Well, she had given it to Peter when he told her that he had started training with the Avengers so he could give it to her anonymously. She never thought that she would ever meet them, but she wanted Natasha to know how much she appreciated the work she did. Lainey was no stranger to the knowledge of the redhead's past. After the Triskelion, every file on her had become available, making it easy for her to find out more about her hero. She found things that she hadn't been expecting, but that only made her feel a lot more connected to Natasha. Even though she had done some questionable things, she was still human. So the mug was just her way of saying that no matter what she did, there would always be someone who looked up to her.

The two stopped what they were doing when they heard a knock on the door and smiled at each other.

"Come in Peter." Natasha smiled in greeting, proceeding to sip her coffee.

It was black. Just the way she liked it.

"Sorry I'm late, the D was delayed." The arachnid spoke, sitting down at the island.

"Do you want something to eat?" Natasha asked him.

"I had an apple or three on the way here." Peter shrugged, knowing that Natasha wouldn't take that for an answer.

"Here." She set a plate and fork in front of him. "Lainey's not going to eat all of those pancakes, so help yourself."

And though Natasha was smiling, her eyes were hard as she glanced at Lainey, just as she was about to get up with a plate full of pancakes.

But when Natasha narrowed her eyes, Lainey smiled sheepishly and sat right back down and continued to eat, taking small bites to satisfy the woman.

But when she raised her eyebrows, Lainey began taking bigger bites. She remembered when she and Natasha had a talk about her horrible eating habits. She had told her that most days she wasn't terribly hungry because she had to eat as little as possible when she was at home, but Natasha just wasn't taking that for an answer. She had reassured the girl that she didn't have to, and wasn't going to live that way anymore and made her eat. And after the twelve year old felt as if she was finished eating, Natasha had whispered something in her ear that made her shudder.

So she had made a wise decision by sitting back down to finish her food, before standing up and putting her backpack over her shoulders.

"Uh uh." Natasha scolded, pointing to the girl's discarded beverage. "Drink that."

"But Natasha I'm-"

Lainey cut herself off when she caught the deadly look on her mentor's face and put the glass to her lips, drinking its contents in full.

That was a battle not even worth fighting. Especially since she knew Natasha was right.

She shouldn't be skipping out on any nutrition knowing that she was prone to get headaches if she did.

She wasn't home anymore. She didn't have to ration food like she did before because no one was going to starve her. She could eat as much as she needed to satisfy her body and not get in trouble for it. She just needed to be reminded from time to time.

* * *

"This is it." Peter told Lainey as the two stood outside of the school building. It was a whole lot bigger than the previous one with some of the tallest kids she had ever seen.

"You have your schedule, right?"

Lainey nodded and handed Peter the neatly folded piece of paper she had been carrying in her pocket the entire morning.

"Sweet, you're in like...…all of my classes except for Spanish and Math. I take Geometry and you take Algebra which is right down the hall." The teen spoke as they made their way into the building.

Lainey looked at the different types of people in the hallway and wondered how she would fit in. She wasn't nervous to start, maybe it was because she had Peter, or maybe it was because she knew things would be different.

She liked different.

"Hey Penis! Got yourself a new girlfriend?" A tanned looking boy called out to Peter.

Lainey furrowed her eyebrows at the horrible and unoriginal nickname before looking at Peter to see how he would handle the situation.

"She's not my girlfriend. She's just a family friend Flash. Don't make it weird." He grimaced.

"Parker dates little girls!" Flash screamed so the entire hallway got wind of the conversation.

The corridors were filled with mixed reactions. Those who cared enough to listen in, either laughed as they walked by, or pretended not to hear anything as they made their way to class. Those who didn't really care for Flash or anything he did, looked at him in disgust, yet refused to come to Peter's aid.

Peter didn't even want to give the kid the time of day, so he took Lainey's arm and led her to their first class of the day, Biology.

"Look, I'm sorry you had to go through that on your first day, he wasn't trying to attack you, he was after me and-"

"-Who was that?" Lainey cut Peter off, not really in the mood to listen to him apologize for something that he had no control over.

She would much rather know more about the creep so she could figure out how to stop him.

She hated bullies.

"Oh him? That was just Flash...…Eugene Thompson. He makes it his life's mission to make me miserable. It's no big deal. I'm just sorry you got dragged into it."

"Why didn't you tell me about him? I could help."

"I didn't tell you because I didn't want you to help. This isn't your problem. I don't want you to get involved in something that you shouldn't. I'm the one who's supposed to be protecting you, remember?"

"I'm not sure that's how the relationship works." Lainey crossed her arms, sitting in the seat next to Petter which was always empty as he preferred to work alone most days. "Weird flex, but okay."

Peter gave the twelve year old an incredulous look before rolling his eyes and waving to Michelle as she made her way to her seat, which happened to be directly in front of them.

"Hey loser." She smirked. "Kid."

Lainey rolled her eyes at the teen, but greeted her anyway. "Michelle."

"I heard you skipped another grade. You're such a nerd."

If anyone else had said that to Lainey, she might have taken offense to it, but this was Michelle. And even though the girl made some pretty off-colored remarks, she knew that deep down, she cared.

"I prefer the term, 'Prodigy'." Lainey smiled sweetly, not giving the older girl the reaction she wanted.

"Whatever you say Kid." And with that, Michelle turned around in time for their teacher to walk into the room.

"That's Mr. Edwards. He's pretty cool once you get to know him and he gives out pretty easy quizzes." Peter explained to Lainey as she watched the man put his briefcase down on his desk.

Mr. Edwards was a tall and slender man with brown eyes and full mop of brown hair to match. On his face he wore wired aviator glasses that reminded Lainey of Tom Cruise in _Top Gun_. Except with the mustache that sat above his upper lip, he looked more like Goose than Maverick.

"I see that we have a new student joining us today. Alayna Taylor?" Mr. Edwards called her.

Lainey raised her hand and smiled politely in greeting. She could feel about seventeen different eyes on her, boring through her soul. Her heart began to hammer against her ribcage as anxiety tried to take over her body. She could hear small whispers and giggles of the students in the room as they tried to figure out who she was or if they had seen her before.

"Welcome. Why don't you tell us about yourself? Where are you from? Any hobbies?"

Fantastic.

"My name is Lainey…...I'm from New York-"

"-What part?" A girl a few seats down asked Lainey sheepishly.

She looked as if she was shy, but really wanted to make Lainey feel welcome, so she pushed those feelings aside and asked the question before she lost the courage to.

"The Bronx." Lainey answered with a smile before continuing to answer their teacher's questions. "And I like to read."

"Do you have a favorite book?" Mr. Edwards asked gently.

Apparently, it was a rare occurrence for this generation to read at their on volition, so he was curious as to how she would answer the question.

"Matilda. It's an old children's classic, but I can never stop reading it." A fond smile creeped onto the twelve year old's face as she thought about the book.

"I like that book too." Mr. Edwards winked. "Alright, why don't you all take out the sheets we worked on for the skeletal system." He got down to business, handing Lainey a worksheet, before beginning to teach.

Lainey took out a pen and looked at the worksheet, smiling when she didn't know the answers to some of the questions.

This was going to be a great year.

* * *

"Lainey? Are you okay?" Peter asked as they walked out of the school towards the train station.

The school day had been great for Lainey. She had really enjoyed herself and even made a new friend, Sarah, who happened to be that shy girl in her biology class. Turns out, they were in the same math class, so they quickly became fast friends.

All her classes were interesting, and she didn't feel so bored that she would fall asleep anymore, which was a plus, but during the last class of the day, she got that bone-chilling feeling that someone was watching her again.

But every time she looked, she didn't see anyone.

The first time it happened, Lainey decided to think nothing of it. It was just her imagination. But her imagination wouldn't play tricks on her like that again, would it?

"Yeah. I'm fine. I was just thinking." Lainey answered, pulling some of her thick hair away from her face, only for the breeze to blow it right back where it was.

Peter nodded and decided not to push her as they swiped their metro cards instead of hopping the turnstile the way most people did.

He didn't have time to really find out what was wrong, because his train arrived pretty early, but he didn't want to leave her alone with her thoughts, so he let the train pass.

"Wasn't that your train?" Lainey asked, confusion written all over her face.

"Yeah. I have something to ask Mr. Stark anyway. I've been trying to upgrade my web shooters, but I can't find an element to replace what I'm already working with." Peter lied the way Natasha taught him to.

 _If you're going to lie, make sure you have a story to back it up. But don't you dare lie to me, I'll know._ She had said.

"Oh...…okay." Lainey couldn't tell whether or not Peter was lying, because she knew that he and Tony _had_ been working on some tech, so she didn't question his motives.

Besides, she was grateful for the company. As the minutes passed, the feeling of someone watching her grew stronger and stronger. And this time, when she turned around, she _did_ see someone.

It was a man in a black peacoat with shiny black shoes, and black tinted sunglasses. He clearly didn't realize that Lainey had spotted him at first and continued to speak into a small burner phone.

The noise of the people on the platform and the sound of the next train pulling into the station drowned out whatever it is he was talking about, but it did catch his attention. He looked up, and saw that Lainey was looking in his direction and immediately turned away.

But before Lainey could watch what he was about to do next, Peter, who had been calling her and trying to get her attention, pulled her into one of the train cars.

"Stand clear of the closing doors please."

As the doors closed, Lainey looked back to find that the man had disappeared. But the sinking feeling in her stomach didn't. Why would anyone be watching her? What were they trying to find out? Maybe she was just overreacting. It could just be someone from the press who has seen her leaving the Tower and wanted to expose Tony for having some illegitimate love child or something. She needed to stop overreacting. Not everyone was out to get her.

Or so she thought.

As the train pulled away, the man in black looked at the empty train tracks and grinned like a cheshire cat.

"Hey Boss? I found her. Today she wasn't alone, but don't worry. Once I find her on her own, she's all yours."

* * *

 **Сколько раз я должен говорить тебе называть меня Наташей? Я собираюсь задушить тебя! - How many times do I have to tell you to call me Natasha? I'm going to strangle you!**

 **Что бы Вы хотели на завтрак? - What would you like for breakfast?**

 **Ничего такого - Nothing**

* * *

 **A/N: Hiiiii! This chapter wasn't as well paced as I had originally hoped it would be, but things are picking up! Lainey's being followed, she's in a new environment, she's bonding with Tony ,and she's making new friends! Unfortunately, her happiness never really lasts long, does it? Until next time! XOXOXO**


	8. Chapter 8

_As the doors closed, Lainey looked back to find that the man had disappeared. But the sinking feeling in her stomach didn't. Why would anyone be watching her? What were they trying to find out? Maybe she was just overreacting. It could just be someone from the press who has seen her leaving the Tower and wanted to expose Tony for having some illegitimate love child or something. She needed to stop overreacting. Not everyone was out to get her._

 _Or so she thought._

 _As the train pulled away, the man in black looked at the empty train tracks and grinned like a cheshire cat._

 _"_ _Hey Boss? I found her. Today she wasn't alone, but don't worry. Once I find her on her own, she's all yours."_

 **Chapter Eight: If You See Something, Say Something Dammit!**

 **A/N: The dream sequence and Lainey's reaction may be a trigger for some (it isn't gory or anything, just a little abusive) so please be careful :) XOXO.**

 _"_ _Lainey, you know how to get home from here now, right?" Peter asked the girl. He practically had to yell above the noise in the crowded station._

 _Lainey nodded her head, but wondered why Peter wouldn't be coming home with her. It had sort of become their thing to ride the train home together after school. Then Peter would have dinner and go home before May got back from work._

 _"_ _Why aren't you coming by today?" She voiced her curiosity._

 _"_ _Didn't Natasha tell you? May is sick. I have to go home and take care of her. It's just a cold, but she always takes care of me, so I want to return the favor." Peter explained. "I'll see you on Monday, okay?" He smiled as his train stopped in front of them._

 _"_ _Okay. Let me know how May's doing…...and tell her I said hi…...and I miss her."_

 _"_ _I will. Take care of yourself." Peter smiled as the doors closed and the train left the station with him on it._

 _Lainey didn't mean to feel needy, but she really wanted Peter to come home with her. She didn't want to ride the train alone. She didn't feel safe knowing that someone was probably watching her. She hadn't told anyone, because she didn't want to alarm them, but now she was regretting that decision._

 _Looking around, Lainey didn't see anything or anyone that could be perceived as a threat, so she relaxed just a little bit. She was in a train station, surrounded by people, in broad daylight. No one was going to harm her, right?_

 _Wrong._

 _She gasped as two unfamiliar arms snaked around her waist and covered her mouth, before lifting her off of her feet._

 _Lainey tried to scream as her legs kicked frantically and her body wriggled wildly against her kidnapper. But nothing worked. His grip was too strong,_

 _And as crowded as the train station was, no one seemed to notice her distress. They all continued to do whatever it is they were doing without batting an eye._

 _"_ _We've got you now. Boss has big plans for you." Her kidnapper hissed in ear before everything went black._

 _Lainey couldn't see anything. She thought she had fainted, but her senses were still at work. All except her sight. Everything was still black._

 _She tried to open her eyes, but they felt as if they were being glued shut. She even tried to move, but none of her limbs would budge._

 _Panic set in, and she began to breathe at a faster rate than normal as her heart pounded in her ears._

 _She was alone. In the dark. It was one of her worst nightmares coming true._

 _How was she supposed to get out of here if she couldn't move? How would she get home? Would anyone be looking for her?_

 _"_ _Lainey…...Lainey wake up." A soothing voice called the girl, easing her panic ever so slightly._

 _Lainey tried to tell the voice that she actually was awake and she just couldn't move, but when she went to open her mouth, nothing happened._

 _"_ _Lainey." The voice tried again. This time it sounded a lot like Natasha. "You have to wake up honey. Dinner's ready and you skipped lunch to take a nap. Wake up."_

 _A nap? She was being kidnapped! She wasn't home! Was she?_

 _Lainey tried to open her eyes again, and this time, it worked. But when she looked around for Natasha, she didn't see her. What she did see made her blood run cold._

 _She was back at her house in the Bronx and her mother was standing over her with her arms crossed._

 _"_ _Mom?" Lainey spoke softly, afraid to set the woman off._

 _But all Allison did was pull her into her arms and embrace her. "Where have you been? I was worried sick about you! Look at you! You're soaked!"_

 _Maybe everything was a dream. Maybe she hadn't really met the Avengers and her mother had never laid a finger on her._

 _And that was completely okay with her. She had her mother back. She didn't need anyone else._

 _"_ _I was...…I don't know where I was…...I had the weirdest dream." Lainey shook her head and took in her mother's familiar scent._

 _The woman no longer smelt like alcohol, but of lovely lavender. She must've been going out somewhere nice, because she only smelled like lavender when she was going to a fancy restaurant or hotel._

 _"_ _Where are you going Mom?" Lainey asked._

 _And just as quickly as Allison's agreeable attitude came, it went. "Where am I going? What the hell do you mean, where am I going?" She spat. "I'm going out to look for you!"_

 _Now that didn't make sense. How could she look for someone who had already been found?_

 _"_ _But Mom, I'm right here…..."_

 _Lainey was rewarded with a slap in the face and an angry glare as her mother dug her nails into her bicep._

 _"_ _Don't be a smart-aleck. I swear it's like no matter how hard I try, the disrespect never ends." Allison laughed maniacally and shoved Lainey towards the wall._

 _Lainey panicked and tried to reach out for something to slow her descent, but there was nothing to grab onto, so she continued to fall._

 _A scream escaped her throat as her body hit the ground and everything around her went black once again._

Lainey awoke with a jolt and her eyes flew open. Her heart was palpitating at a speed that could rival a hummingbird and she felt as if she couldn't breathe. She immediately looked around to see where she was this time, and found herself on the floor of her bedroom in the Avenger's Tower. She and her covers must've fallen off of the bed when she was pushed in her dream.

She knew it was a silly thing to do, but she felt around her body for any bruises and found none, except for some dents in her skin that looked as if they were from fingernails. And they were fresh. Lainey knew that her mother couldn't have done that, so he looked at her hands and found blood underneath her nails.

She had to clean it off before she got an infection, so she pushed the covers off of her body and froze. The covers were soaking wet…...and so was she. So, gingerly bringing the sheets up to her nose, Lainey sniffed and prepared for the worst. Thankfully, they were just wet from sweat, allowing Lainey to just put them back on her bed and change out of her drenched pajamas before putting everything in the washing machine a few doors down.

The twelve year old was very shaken by her dreams, and even debated on whether or not she should go to Natasha's room and talk to her about it, but eventually decided against it. She didn't want to bother the redhead with something like that at three in the morning.

So she decided to go and get herself a cup of coffee. It wasn't like she was going to get any more sleep. It wasn't like she _wanted_ to get any more sleep. Not if she was going to be subjected to more nightmares.

"It's a little early for you to be up, isn't it?"

Lainey gasped and whirled around to find Bruce sitting at the island with a cup of what Lainey could only assume was tea. Bruce couldn't have stimulants for fear of setting off the Hulk.

"I'm not tired." Lainey let out a breath of relief before going back to the counter to make her coffee.

Bruce noticed the sweat that glistened on her forehead and the bags underneath her eyes, and he immediately knew she had suffered a night terror.

And as bad as nightmares are, night terrors are much worse. Whenever someone suffers from them, they can't be woken up or comforted until the ridiculous, vivid bad dream ends with them in a cold sweat.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He asked gently, slowly approaching her and taking her newly made coffee and pouring it down the drain, much to her displeasure.

"No. It was a stupid dream and I don't even remember it anymore."

That wasn't true and they both knew it. She was trembling like a leaf.

"I won't judge you, if you decided to tell me." He tried again. "Everyone in the Tower has nightmares from time to time. Sometimes we wake each other up and we're adults. But we never judge each other and we never make fun of each other for it."

"I…...She…...I was-" Lainey breathed out.

"-Slow down. Take a deep breath." Bruce coached her until her breathing went back to normal. "Take it slow. I'm not going anywhere."

"It was about…...It was about my mother." Lainey explained, conveniently leaving out the part where she had been kidnapped. That was just her imagination running wild. It wasn't important.

"What about your mother?" Bruce asked with no trace of malice in his voice, though he hated the woman with every fiber of his being.

"She was dressed up and ready to go out…...but then I came through the front door and she dropped everything…...and…...and she was worried about me. I asked her where she was going…...and she said she was going out to look for me...…but she was holding me! And I asked her why she was going to look for me when I was right in front of her, but she hit me…...and she dug her nails into my arms and pushed me into a wall…...that's when I woke up." Lainey shrugged.

It wasn't until that moment, that Bruce noticed the dried blood on Lainey's arm. "Honey? Did you do this to yourself?" He asked cautiously, not wanting to se her off.

"No! Not on purpose! It was an accident! I thought…...I thought…...She did it to me…...She did it to me…..." Lainey trailed, breaking down in quiet sobs.

Bruce led her over to the couch and sat down with her, to calm her down. "I know you didn't do it on purpose…...Sometimes when we dream, we do the things that are happening while we're asleep. Then we wake up and see the results. Through no fault of our own of course."

"You don't think I'm crazy?" Lainey looked up at him with such wide and desperate eyes, Bruce nearly openly cried with her.

"No honey, of course not. It happens to everyone on this floor. And no one is going to hurt you. We're all here for you. You don't have to turn to coffee to stay awake. If you ever have a bad dream and you come out into the living room, I guarantee there's going to be someone sitting here going through the same thing."

"Even you?" Lainey asked, cuddling into the gamma scientist's side, much to his surprise.

"Especially me. None of us are perfect, but we manage because we lean on each other when we have nothing left-"

Bruce looked down at Lainey and found her with her eyes closed and a relaxed look on her face.

"Goodnight honey." He smiled fondly, brushing a stray curl away from her face before getting comfortable, closing his own eyes to drift off into a dreamless and fruitful slumber.

* * *

"Hey Lainey!" Sarah called the brunette.

Lainey stopped reading and waited patiently for Sarah to make her way over to her.

"I just wanted to ask you if you'd like to come over tonight? You don't have to if you don't want to, but I think it'd be fun." Sarah smiled sweetly.

Even though they were pretty good friends now, they still hadn't hung out outside of school yet.

"Yeah, I'd like that." Lainey smiled and put the book she had been reading down. "It does sound like fun."

"Really? I was afraid you'd say no." Sarah beamed. But not the way that Clara used to. Sarah's smile wasn't annoying and blinding. Hers was contagious, she couldn't help smiling back.

Lainey thought that making friends would be hard, but it was only a week or two in, and she had already found a good friend.

"Do you want to play tag or something?" Sarah asked, looking at everyone either eating lunch, or playing games during their free time.

"How about hide and seek?" Lainey suggested sheepishly.

She felt as if it was a childish request, but she really did like that game. She couldn't really be blamed for it, because her childhood had been taken away from her by her mother.

Apparently, Sarah didn't think it was childish at all, because she immediately announced that since she was older, she would be it and Lainey had to hide.

Lainey's smile grew larger in size and she looked around to find the perfect hiding spot. When her eyes landed on it, she grinned. There was a large oak tree near the sidewalk that would be perfect to hide behind. So grinning as if she had just pulled one over on someone, Lainey quietly made her way over to the tree and hid behind it, glancing every now and then to see if Sarah had stopped counting.

It seemed as if Sarah had counted to thirty to give Lainey enough time to find a suitable hiding spot, before running off to find her.

Lainey hid her giggles behind her hand as she watched Sarah look in places she thought she might be.

Her giggles didn't last long, for as soon as she started, she heard a weird rustling in the bushes near her. And it didn't sound like it was coming from the movements of any animals.

Lainey furrowed her eyebrows and looked at the bushes next her to see what was in there, but before she could get a good look, a hand snatched her waist and covered her mouth before carrying her away from the building.

This was all too familiar. Lainey thrashed as much as she could and even tried to bite down on her kidnapper's hand, but nothing work. Whoever had her, was clever enough to bring her down the block and into an alleyway, before shoving her into a black car and driving away.

Lainey thought that he was stupid for not tying her up and used that to her advantage, banging on the windows and screaming at the top of her lungs, hoping that someone who see or hear her and help, but nothing worked. The windows must've been tinted. So she tried to unlock the doors and unroll the windows to jump out, but he must've put the child lock on, leaving Lainey with no means to escape.

The twelve year old slumped against the backseat, clearly having given up all hope of getting home and allowed her tears to fly down her face. She would've used her phone to text Natasha or call the police, but she knew that in the struggle, it had fallen out of her pocket. No one would be able to track her, or find her now.

Meanwhile, in Midtown, Sarah was growing worried. She had looked almost everywhere for Lainey and she was nowhere to be found. She looked behind trees, bushes, under the benches, and even behind people. She couldn't find her anywhere. So either Lainey was seriously good at this game, or something was seriously wrong.

Though she could be wrong. There _was_ one tree she still hadn't looked behind yet. The far oak tree by the sidewalk.

Sarah smiled, thinking that she was going to win this round and ran over to the tree. But when she didn't see Lainey, her heart dropped. Something was wrong. Lainey would never just leave like that.

Looking at the ground for any traces of Lainey, Sarah found the girl's phone on the dirt and quickly picked it up, walking back to the bench where she had originally greeted Lainey.

The phone was locked and Sarah clearly didn't know the password, so she decided to look through Lainey things to see if there was something that could give her a clue as to what the password was.

Her book was still on the bench, open to the last page she had read. As far as Sarah knew, Lainey didn't go anywhere without that book. It was _Matilda_. Sarah never full understood why Lainey liked it so much, but she always figured it had something to do with the fact that both she and the main character were practically geniuses. She didn't know that there was a deeper reason. She didn't know that Lainey's mother had abused her the same way Matilda's parents abused her, and more. And she didn't know that Lainey had found a friend in someone who had gone through just as much as Ms. Honey, if not more. And she definitely didn't know, that Lainey and that special friend had found a family in each other. It wasn't just a book to Lainey. It was a symbol of hope. It was her story just as much as it was Matilda's.

There was nothing informative in the book, and Sarah was just about to give up and alert her teachers when the phone rang.

The teen looked at the screen and saw that a woman named Natasha was calling. If the woman's name was in Lainey's phone, then they must be close, so Sarah answered the call, and put the phone to her ear. "Hello? Ms. Natasha?" She spoke hesitantly.

"Hello? Who is this? Can you put Lainey on the phone?" Natasha asked, confused as to why someone besides Lainey would be picking up her phone.

"She's gone. Lainey's gone." Sarah's voice cracked.

She didn't get an answer, but she did hear what sounded like a phone hitting the ground.

* * *

 **A/N: This is getting pretty intense...Lainey's having night terrors and now she's been kidnapped. Her life has never been boring has it? Thanks again to AzarelleTheGamer for reviewing! I know I'm putting Lainey through a lot, but her life will get better. She'll be happy one day! Until next time (hopefully this week). XOXOXOXO!**


	9. Chapter 9

_There was nothing in the book and Sarah was just about to give up and alert her teachers when the phone rang._

 _The teen looked at the screen and saw that a woman named Natasha was calling. If the woman's name was in Lainey's phone, then they must be close, so Sarah answered the call, and put the phone to her ear. "Hello? Ms. Natasha?" She spoke hesitantly._

 _"_ _Hello? Who is this? Can you put Lainey on the phone?" Natasha asked, confused as to why someone besides Lainey would be picking up her phone._

 _"_ _She's gone. Lainey's gone." Sarah's voice cracked._

 _She didn't get am answer, but she did hear what sounded like a phone hitting the ground._

 **Chapter Nine: What Do You Mean, She's Gone?**

"Natasha!' Tony called the former assassin to get her attention.

She was sitting on the couch, reading a file on Lainey and her mother, trying to find out more about the psychotic woman.

"Hmm?" She responded, still looking through the file.

Tony rolled his eyes at her lack of attention and continued. "Those papers you asked me for? I had to call in a couple of favors from some judges…...but I got it done." He held a folder out to her.

"Stark, if you're playing games with me-"

"-How could I be playing games with you? The folder is right here! Open it!" Tony moved it closer to her just to prove his point. "Why would I fool you about something like this? I said I'd help you, and I did. Open it."

Natasha looked at the billionaire warily, before taking the folder into her own hands, studying it. It isn't that she didn't trust Tony. She did, but the favor she asked of him was a big one and she wasn't feeling very optimistic towards the outcome. This is something she _really really_ wanted to happen. Nothing this great has ever fallen into her lap so easily. So when Tony told her that he did it, she didn't want to get her hopes up, just in case something went wrong.

"Are you going to open it, or not? Because I can just take it and-" Tony joked, reaching out for the folder.

But Natasha growled and pulled it away, making him jump back. Clearly, she wasn't in the mood for any jokes.

He watched as her nimble fingers undid the thread and opened the folder. He wasn't at all surprised to find her speechless when she read off of the papers in front of her. "Can you tell me what it says?" He asked to humor her.

" _Congratulations Ms. Romanov, you are now the [adoptive] mother of Alayna Taylor...…_ " The redhead spoke with tears pooling in her eyes.

Tony didn't comment on her uncharacteristically high display of emotions, because he was no stranger to her story. When she came to him, asking him to help her get the necessary papers, without alerting the press or anyone who could potentially slow the process down, he had asked her why she wanted this so badly. He knew that she loved Lainey, but he also knew that there was something deeper going on.

That's when, without hesitation, Natasha told him about the Red Room. She had been raised and trained in that place and then had to go through a 'Graduation Ceremony'. They had sterilized her. They took away her gift and ability to bear children, under the guise of making things 'easier'. Who were they to decide what would be easier on her? Who were they to mess with her body like that and then tell her that it was for her own good? So as soon as he and Natasha finished speaking, he immediately phoned some of the best judges he knew and insisted that they do this as soon as possible.

How could he not? As much as he and Natasha butt heads. She was his sister and he loved her. He'd be a horrible person not to do this for her after all she's done for him.

"Tony…...I don't know what to say…...thank you." Natasha snapped out of her trance.

"How about, 'Thank you, your majesty. You're too kind?" Tony joked. He'd never really reveal how much he loved the people in this makeshift family.

"I don't think so." Natasha shook her head and got up to stand in front of him. Grinning lightly, she leaned over and kissed his cheek, before ruffling his hair.

Yeah, he'd never reveal it…...but somehow, they knew.

"Are you going to tell Lainey soon?" He asked suddenly.

A thoughtful look crossed the redhead's face, before she answered his question. "I think I'll head to Queens and tell her myself. Missing half a day of school won't kill her." She wiggled her eyebrows playfully.

"Okay, tell her I said hello and congratulations." Tony nodded and left to go back to his lab to finish some work on his repulsers.

Natasha couldn't keep the goofy grin off of her face as she put on her jacket and picked up her phone to glance at the time. Lainey always texted her during her free period, which was around this time, so she decided to give the brunette a call.

"Hello? Ms. Natasha?" A small voice answered the phone.

That was odd. What was someone else doing answering Lainey's phone? "Hello? Who is this? Can you put Lainey on the phone?"

"She's gone. Lainey's gone."

Natasha's breath hitched as she tried to calm herself after what she just heard. Her heart raced and she felt like everything was happening in slow motion. She was panicking. She _never_ panicked. She was trained not to panic. She needed to get herself together.

"Ms. Romanoff? I am sensing very high levels of distress. I will alert the team immediately." F.R.I.D.A.Y.'s voice rang in her ears.

Before she could tell her not to alert anyone, the entire team rushed into the room to see what the fuss was about, freezing when they saw Natasha looking so…...unlike herself.

"Natasha? What's wrong? Steve asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.

"I just called Lainey's phone…...She's gone." Natasha managed to calm herself down so quickly that it startled the rest of the team. "I wanted to call her, to let her know I was going to pick her up, but a friend of hers picked up the phone. She's gone. Someone took her." She ran a hand through her bright red hair as her anxiety morphed into anger at the drop of a hat.

"Hello? Is anyone still there?" Wanda picked up the phone that had dropped from Natasha's numb fingers a few seconds before.

Who would want to take Lainey? And why? She was just a kid!

"H-Hello?" The small voice answered, clearly having heard the audio to Natasha's mini meltdown.

"Are you a friend of Lainey's? Do you know where you saw her last?" Wanda asked gently, putting the phone on speaker mode.

Sarah wasn't at all confused by the different voices coming through the phone, because as she continued to listen to them talk in the background she put two and two together. They were the Avengers.

But this wasn't the time for all of that.

"Y-Yeah, we're friends. I'm Sarah…...It's our free period now, and Lainey was reading a book by herself, so I thought maybe she'd like to play a game…...so we played hide and seek…...I couldn't find her and at first and I thought that she was just really good at this game, but when I went to look behind the big oak tree, I found her phone on the ground…...I'm sorry, this is all my fault…...If I had just left her alone, she'd be here-"

"-No Sarah. None of this is your fault. Listen to me carefully, okay?" Sam spoke up.

"Okay."

"I want you to go to the nearest adult and tell them exactly what happened. We're going to find Lainey and she's going to be just fine. Okay? Don't blame yourself for something you had no control over."

"Okay…"

"Take care of yourself and thanks for letting us know." Sam told her before ending the call.

"Suit up. We don't have any time to waste." Steve spoke authoritatively.

And he was right, every second they spent trying to figure out what to do, was a second away from them finding Lainey and bringing her home.

"Keep watch of the news stations, someone may have seen her and can give us a lead."

"I'll give my number to the public as a way of contacting me if they've seen her." Tony told everyone.

They were getting Lainey back no matter what it took.

* * *

"Get out."

Lainey's eyes widened as her kidnapper stopped the car and came around to open her door. She obviously didn't want to follow his orders, so she tried to look for ways to get out.

Noticing that all the doors were unlocked now, Lainey kicked at the man and opened the opposite door, taking off as fast as her legs would let her go, losing a shoe in the process.

She could hear the man curse under his breath and take off after her, but she didn't dare look behind her. Luck must not have been on her side that day, because as soon as she was ready to cross the street, a car hit her.

The brunette screamed as she hit the ground and everything seemed so far away. Her mind was swimming and she heard voices, but she couldn't really make out what they were saying. She thought that she felt someone lift her up and for a minute she let herself believe that it was Steve or Tony, but she knew better. She'd probably never see those two again.

"Sir, you should probably take her to a hospital, she's hurt." She heard someone say, when the fuzziness left her ears. "You can't take her home like that."

"She's my kid, I'll do with her as I please. You were the one that hit her, you're lucky that I wont press charges."

And in that moment, Lainey's brain started to work again. "…...Help…...Help…..." She groaned, trying to get her larynx to allow her to scream.

But the impact from the crash, was affecting her head. She couldn't quite process what was going on, but since she thought she heard was a new voice, she was willing to push through all the confusion in her brain and get herself some help.

"See man? She needs medical attention." The man sent a pointed look in Lainey's direction.

The girl's eyes were completely out of focused and the longer they stood there, the more pale she grew.

"Help…...me…...please." Lainey coughed. "He…...isn't my…...father."

"Don't pay attention to her. Her mother and I just got married and she's been a little rebellious as of late." Her kidnapper lied through his teeth.

"N…...not…...my father…...please…...Stark…...Tasha…...Need…...Tasha…..."

"She doesn't know Tony Stark or Black Widow…...she's hallucinating."

The man looked at Lainey and shook his head. There was no way this kid was hallucinating. He had heard the news over the radio about a girl who had been kidnapped, and the stories matched.

But he schooled his features so that he could help Lainey. He couldn't let this man know that he was onto him.

"I did hit her pretty hard…...just make sure she's okay. She might have a concussion."

"Will do. Thanks a lot." Lainey's kidnapper smiled and turned to walk away.

The man who hit Lainey with his car, waited a few moments, before taking his phone out and dialing Tony Stark's number, hoping that he wasn't too late as he watched the man take Lainey into an abandoned warehouse.

He just wished there was more that he could do to help.

* * *

"I got a lead." Tony told the team, hanging up his phone.

That got Natasha to stop what she was doing and look at him, her eyes full of hope in a way he thought he'd never see.

"Some guy just called and told me about a kid who ran right in front of his car and got hit. He says some man grabbed her and refused to take her to a hospital, and he strongly believes that it's Lainey." He explained. "She asked for you and I."

Natasha perked up just a little bit. Lainey was alive, that means that they weren't too late. And thanks to this man who accidentally hit Lainey with his car, they were one step closer to finding her.

"Did he say where?" Wanda asked.

She was anxious to find Lainey. They didn't speak much, which was odd, because they were closer in age than anyone else (besides Peter). That didn't mean that she didn't care for her. Sometimes, she'd hear her while she was having a nightmare and sneak into her room before using her powers to give her some good dreams to help her sleep better. It was the least she could do for her after everything she had been through.

She just hoped that one day, she'd be able to go into Lainey's room and find that she didn't need her to give her good dreams, because she was making some of her own.

"Yeah, the Bronx…...near the Willis Avenue Bridge. He said whoever took her, carried her into an abandoned warehouse."

It was right then that Natasha snapped out of her panicked, yet hopeful state and put her game face on. Whoever decided that they could just take that kid, was in for a very rude awakening.

* * *

"How hard did that car hit her?"

"I don't know, pretty hard. She was slipping in and out when I got to her."

"And did anyone see you?"

"Yeah, the idiot who hit her. I convinced him that I was her father."

Lainey's eye scrunched tightly as she began to regain consciousness, listening to the voices in the room.

"She's waking up. We can start now."

Start? Start what?

Lainey's eyes shot open and her flight or flight kicked in as she tried to get up and run. Unfortunately, she couldn't go anywhere, because she was handcuffed to the chair that the two men put her on.

That, and she was still concussed. She was in no condition to get up and run.

Now she was starting to panic. She couldn't move to call for help or even scratch her nose. How was she supposed to get out of here? What did these people want from her?

"You don't need to be frightened by me Alayna." A man in a brown blazer and blue jeans made his way over to her.

He had brown hair like she did, with green eyes and pale skin. He had a tired, yet longing look on his face that creeped Lainey out.

As he drew closer, Lainey couldn't help but scoot as far away from him as the handcuffs would permit. Her heart was aching with how hard it was beating and her breathing was becoming very shallow.

How did he know her name?

"I haven't seen you since you were a toddler." He began, sensing her complete and utter confusion. "I didn't think you'd recognize me. I was right."

"What are you talking about?" Lainey asked, flinching as he reached a hand out for her.

"Don't you know who I am? Allison didn't tell you?" He didn't seem to be phased by her reaction and brushed a hand through her messy curls.

And if Lainey hadn't been handcuffed to a chair in the middle of who knows where, she may not have felt threatened by the gestures. But that wasn't the case. She felt sick to her stomach.

"How do you know my mother?" Shivers travelled up and down the twelve year old's spine when the man didn't move his hand, no matter how much Lainey let it be known that she didn't want him to touch her.

His hand was rough and littered with callouses that scratched against Lainey's hair and skin. She tried her best not to gag or bite his hand.

"She really didn't tell you?" He laughed despite the fact that there was nothing funny happening. "Lainey, sweetheart. I'm Ryan Taylor. I'm your father."

Those three words sent Lainey's entire world crashing down on her. She grew up thinking that she never had a father. Her mother told her that he had died one day, coming home from work. When Lainey asked her about it, she refused to elaborate, but she always thought it was because it was too painful to talk about. So she never asked about him again and moved on with her life. She never knew what he looked like, because there were no pictures of him in the house, but again, she didn't question it because she thought that that was her mother's way of grieving.

Until one day, Lainey went snooping in Allison's room and found an old picture of the three of them in an old unlocked trunk. She was a baby in the picture, but she liked the picture so much because both of them looked happy.

So she stole it.

Of course her mother found out and confronted her about it. Lainey vehemently denied having ever been in her mother's room, let alone stealing the picture. She didn't know why she lied, but she guessed the picture must have been pretty special to her. She had never even met the man in the picture, but she made up different stories in her head about what he was like and what he did for a living before he met her mother. Or if he loved her. Or if he would love her now that she had stolen the picture. Would he be angry like her mother? Or patient like she had seen other fathers were with their daughters.

Her mother knew she was lying and proceeded to yell at her about stealing and trust.

Lainey thought that Allison was just going to yell at her for a while and send her to her room for the rest of the day, before coming in a few hours later to talk calmly with her, the way she always did.

No. This time was different.

Lainey could see the rage on her mother's face. She remembered trying to calm her down, apologizing, and she even offered to put the picture back where she got it from. Her mother wasn't having any of it. That was the first time Allison had ever laid a hand on her, but she couldn't say that she didn't deserve it. By the time Allison got tired and stopped, she practically dragged Lainey to her room and threw her onto her bed, telling her to stop making so much noise and to 'Keep the damn picture'. It didn't mean a thing to her anymore. That deadbeat got whatever the hell he deserved, but she'd be damned if Lainey turned out just like him, stealing, cheating, and lying. She told her that if she ever did something like that again, she'd break every bone in her body and let them all heal that way.

Needless to say, Lainey never went into her mother's room again. In fact, she didn't dare leave her own room until she was sure her mother was at work for at least a week. That's how she learned to fend for and take care of herself. But she never threw the picture away. She put it in her paperback version of _Matilda_ and carried it everywhere to give her something nice to think about when she needed it.

She was so stupid.

How could she have not seen this coming?

She had been carrying the evidence with her for years.

She could feel her lips growing dry and her head began to ache as she thought about what else her mother could've been hiding from her.

"Your hair has grown quite a bit since the last time I saw you…...It was just a mop of curls back then…...Now look at you." He father moved his hand from her hair and cupped her chin, making her gasp. "I missed out on so much."

"Boss, should I get everything ready now?" The man who kidnapped Lainey asked, ruining the moment for Ryan.

"Go ahead Frances." Ryan waved him off. "The sooner we get started, the better."

"The sooner you get started on what?" Lainey eyed, her father warily.

"The new world."

Lainey's eyes widened in realization. She had heard of that kind of thinking before.

From HYDRA.

"No...…Tell me you're not. Just, please. Tell me you're not HYDRA?"

"I think you know the answer to that question. But don't worry, pretty soon, you will be too. This is what your mother and I always wanted for you. You're going to be greater and stronger than you've ever been before."

Frances smirked and handed Ryan a long needle filled with a purple liquid. "I thought you should be the one to do it Boss, you are her father."

Anyone who knew Lainey was aware of the fact that she was petrified of needles. She couldn't even look at them without feeling sick. So when her father began to dab iodine on her arm to put the needle through, she went ballistic. But Ryan and Frances made her that she was tied down enough for them to do their jobs.

Her thrashing and screaming was futile.

Ryan tried to soothe her as he pushed needle after needle in, but it only worsened her condition. She was in hysterics.

The room echoed with the sound of her shrill voice, shrieking for all of this to end.

But all she was met with was a harsh slap to her face that made her fall silent.

"I'm sorry I had to do that sweetheart, but you might have hurt yourself. That was the only way to stop you."

Surely there were other ways of stopping her, but it seems that Lainey's parents only ever used force.

They were made for each other. It was a wonder they split up.

"I love you. You're too precious to me. I can't allow you to hurt yourself." Ryan grimaced at the horrified look on Lainey's face that contrasted with the growing bruise on her cheek.

The twelve year old looked like a complete and utter mess. Her hair was all askew, there were tears pouring down her face, her throat was sore, there were bruises on her wrists from the cuffs and burns on her ankles from the ropes that held them in place. She was so tired, from resisting for so long. There was no fight left in her.

"I'm sorry to have to do this to you, but it's for the greater good. You understand that don't you?"

Ryan received no answer. Lainey didn't even seem to acknowledge him talking to her. The fear had left her eyes and was replaced with a glossy look of shock. She was far away now.

"Now, I know you don't like needles, but there's only one more left. I need you to be brave about this for me. Okay?"

Once again, Ryan was not dignified by a response. But he stuck the needle in her arm anyway.

As the liquid ran through the girl's veins, she suddenly felt cold as her heart rate dropped. Almost as if someone had just given her an ice bath. Lainey involuntarily shivered as her teeth chattered and her skin grew pale. The feeling didn't last very long, her heart began to beat faster and she grew hotter and hotter. It felt she was being burned. She screamed as sweat seeped out of her pores, drenching her hair and clothes. Finally, her brain decided that she was in way too much pain to be awake, and put her body to sleep. Lainey's eyes rolled to the back of her head and she slumped over and relaxed.

"If all goes as planned, she and the Winter Soldier will be unstoppable as they fight side by side." Ryan told Frances, keeping his gaze on his unconscious daughter, not at all fazed by what he had just witnessed.

When he didn't receive an answer from his sidekick, he turned around to find Frances gasping for air, with a red mist surrounding him.

"Did you really think we wouldn't find you?"

Of course Captain America would be the one to try to stop him.

"You're too late. What's done is done. She is unstoppable now." Ryan smirked at the super soldier.

"What did you do to her?" Steve asked, eyeing the the empty syringes.

There must have been at least fifteen.

"We modified her to become something better." Unbeknownst to Steve, Ryan reached for a small handgun he hid in his blazer and pointed it at him.

But before he could pull the trigger, a shot rang out, sending him to the harsh ground beneath him with a sickly sweet smile on his face.

"Who's your handler?" Natasha growled dangerously, successfully scaring everyone in the room.

"Hail…...HYDRA…..." Ryan spat before taking his last breath.

Wanda gasped and let go of Frances, causing the man to collapse in a coughing fit, unable to pick himself up.

Sam slapped some cuffs on his wrists and pulled him up onto his feet, looking at Steve for instruction.

"Put him on board the jet and keep a close eye on him. Don't let him slip away. He has information we may need."

"Copy that." Sam nodded before shoving the cowering man towards the door. "Move."

"Let's get her out of here. She needs medical attention." Wanda looked at both Steve and Natasha, who were practically seething in anger.

And with a flick of her wrist, the handcuffs on Lainey's wrists unclasped and the ropes around her ankles fell to her feet. But before her unconscious body could hit the floor, Natasha caught her and lifted her up into her arms, holding her close for fear of losing her again.

The walk to the quintet was quiet, but once they got there, Natasha laid Lainey down on a stretcher and brushed a hand through her hair. The gesture, though very tender and heartfelt, seemed to wake Lainey up.

But not in a positive way.

The poor girl shot up and screamed as best she could with her strained vocal chords, jumping off of the stretcher to escape from what she thought was a dangerous situation.

"Lainey!" Natasha tried to grab her, but the brunette only slipped from her grip, crashing onto the floor hard enough to break something, giving Steve the opportunity to grab her. "Lainey, stop! It's us! We're not going to hurt you!"

"She isn't going to stop. She thinks she's still there." Bruce told her, holding a syringe full of sedatives. He hated to do it, but what else was he supposed to do? "And she has to be calm for me to find out what these psychos injected her with."

Frances smiled sinisterly and decided to enlighten them. "HYDRA's own little version of the serum. She's going to powerful enough to make entire empires fall, take down multiple countries, and never be seen in the process." He nodded towards Lainey's thrashing body. "I wouldn't inject her with anything if I were you. Her body is very sensitive right now."

"We need to figure out how to flush all of that out of her system. Who knows what's it's doing to her body." Tony spoke from the pilot's seat.

"There's no 'flushing' this out of her body. This is permanent. This is what she is now." Frances grinned as Lainey continued to wriggle and thrash around in Steve's arms. "She is no longer yours. She belongs to HYDRA n-"

Frances never got to finish his sentence because Natasha got tired of listening and smacked the butt of her gun over his head, knocking him out cold.

Damn fool.

* * *

 **A/N: Hi everyone! I know, I know. I keep putting Lainey through things even some adults don't go through, but she has to go through all of this for greater things to come. But hey! She's going home now and she was just adopted! I have a question though, after I'm finished with this arc, would you guys like me to go into the Civil War arc? I have a few ideas for it, but I'm not sure if you'd like me to. I have, however been thinking of publishing a book of one-shots with Lainey and the Avengers. So if you have any ideas, let me know! They don't have tie into the BTSE timeline! Thanks for reading! Until next time! XOXOXO.**


	10. Chapter 10

_Frances smiled sinisterly and decided to enlighten them. "HYDRA's own little version of the serum. She's going to powerful enough to make entire empires fall, take down multiple countries, and never be seen in the process." He nodded towards Lainey's thrashing body. "I wouldn't inject her with anything if I were you. Her body is very sensitive right now."_

 _"We need to figure out how to flush all of that out of her system. Who knows what's it's doing to her body." Tony spoke from the pilot's seat._

 _"There's no 'flushing' this out of her body. This is permanent. This is what she is now." Frances grinned as Lainey continued to wriggle and thrash around in Steve's arms. "She is no longer yours. She belongs to Hydra n-"_

 _Frances never got to finish his sentence because Natasha got tired of listening and smacked the butt of her gun over his head, knocking him out cold._

 _Damn fool._

* * *

 **Chapter Ten:**

 _"_ _Stupid kid." Allison muttered under her breath, watching her daughter with such repugnance, one would have trouble believing that she was the one who had given birth to her._

 _But Lainey was used to it. Her mother's verbal abuse always bothered her, but it happened so often that she forced herself to suck it up and deal with it. She couldn't let Allison see that she was affected by her words or it would just get worse._

 _"_ _Why the hell doesn't she listen to me?" She growled, beginning to look like an animal, stalking its prey. She was watching, waiting for the right moment to pounce._

 _"_ _She's a smart-aleck." Her father interjected, taking a swig from the beer bottle he held in his hand. "Damn kid thinks she knows more than us. That attitude should disappear once the serum sets in her blood. She won't know her ear from her elbow." He laughed sadistically._

 _That's when Lainey began to panic._

 _What serum did they inject her with? What was going to happen to her? Why couldn't she move?_

 _"_ _Get up." Her father threw his beer bottle in her direction. The bottle narrowly missed her face and shattered against the wall behind her, the liquid splattering all over her hair and her back, staining her clothing._

 _The impact helped Lainey regain control of her limbs, allowing her to shoot up and run as fast as she could, tripping over her own feet in the process. She ran out of the apartment and down the three flights of stairs, refusing to take her chances with the elevator, eventually making her way out of the building and onto the semi-busy streets of the Bronx._

 _Her body was screaming for her to stop, but she refused to give in. Even when her breathing_

 _became shallow, she didn't slow down. She had to get away from those people she had once_

 _called family. They were nuts._

 _As her feet kept pounding on the pavement, a tall, purple looking alien came into view and blocked her path. Everyone around them seemed to disappear, leaving just the two of them standing alone._

 _"_ _Relax child. It's for the best. One day you will see." He spoke so calmly that Lainey didn't immediately feel threatened by him. "The time is drawing near, but when it comes, you will be ready."_

"Lainey?"

The brunette's eyes shot open, instantly regretting it when she was nearly blinded by the familiar bright lights of med-bay.

Wait. Med-bay? How did she get back to the Tower? What was going on?

A rush of emotions flooded through the twelve year old, as she frantically looked around to make sense of her predicament. She was hooked up to an IV again and had a heart rate monitor on her finger, which was the first thing she took off.

That beeping was giving her anxiety.

"Lainey?" A voice snapped her out of her panic just enough for her to be able to listen clearly.

Natasha had been sitting on a chair next to her bedside, anxiously waiting for her to wake. She had practically been guarding her, making sure that no one made one wrong move near her. Everyone thought it was sweet. She didn't let many people in, but when she did, she held them close.

Knowing that she probably wasn't going to get a response from the child, she decided to make idle conversation.

"You don't know much about me personally, do you? How about I tell you some things? My favorite color is green." She started, deciding to rattle off things that she knew Lainey would love to know. "Everyone assumes that it's red, because of what…..who I am."

Lainey didn't blink. It was like she was right next to Natasha, but millions of miles away. It was horrible to see the once bubbly and bright girl who was so full of life, lay in bed with no emotions, sporting a blank look on her face.

"Okay, kid. Move over, I'm coming up." Natasha sighed, realizing that the small talk wasn't working. "We're going to do something different, I'm going to talk, and you're going to listen. I won't let you sit here and deal with this on your own. _Понимаю_?"

Lainey didn't open her mouth to speak, but she did nod and acknowledge that she was being spoken to. She even moved over, allowing Natasha to climbing next to her.

She wouldn't say so, but the extra comfort was what she needed.

"I was kidnapped too." The redhead began a tale that no one but Clint and Laura knew. This piece of information wasn't even in her file. She had made sure of it. "I was much younger than you..…maybe five or six. It was back in Russia. It was my mother's birthday, so we celebrated the entire day, and when it got dark, she sent my younger brother and I to bed so she and my father could celebrate on their own." Natasha swallowed a lump in her throat and took a deep breath before continuing. "I fell asleep with my brother in my arms...….and a fire woke us up. I heard my parents screaming for the both of us and I held my brother tight while the flames grew. But it wasn't enough, soldiers burst into the house and ripped me away from him…..."

Lainey surprised her by cuddling close to her and taking a hold of her hand to comfort her so that she could continue.

"I don't remember anything else that happened that night, except for the fact that I ended up in a place called, _Балетная консерватория мадам Би для девочек_. It was the Red Room. They had me train in dance, ballet specifically. When we got old enough, they trained us to kill. I grew to be very skilled, so I graduated earlier than expected…...and in the graduation ceremony, I was sterilized." The Russian sighed. "I didn't tell you all of that for you to be more upset than you were. I told you that, so you would know you're not alone."

"Tony told me that too." Lainey's small voice surprised Natasha. "What's sterilized?"

"Tony was right." The redhead pretended to shudder, making Lainey crack a smile, before continuing her story. "When someone's sterilized, they can't have children. It makes everything easier, even k...…things that shouldn't be easy. But then I met a friend. He was meant to take me out, but he made a different call."

"Was it Clint?" Lainey asked softly, slowly coming out of her shocked state.

"Mmhmm." Natasha hummed. "It was Clint. He saw something in me that I didn't even know was there…...but there was always an empty space in me that I could never fill. Until now. Until you."

"Until me? I haven't done anything for you." Lainey furrowed her eyebrows in confusion.

She really didn't believe she did anything to impact Natasha's life. All she had been doing was living in her house and eating her food. It was Natasha who did everything for her. _She_ was the one who showed her how a mother should behave towards her children.

 _Oh_.

Lainey's eyes widened as she turned to face the former assassin, who had a knowing look on her face. She didn't mean that, did she?

"I was going to tell you when you felt better, but now is just as good a time as any." Natasha cupped Lainey's cheek. "I already had custody of you, and I had Tony pull some strings. The adoption papers were finalized two days ago."

Lainey's heart stopped and with it, the entire world. In that moment, the earth stood still. She couldn't say anything, she couldn't hear anything, and she couldn't see anything except what was in front of her. It felt as if she was having an out of body experience. None of this could possibly be happening. It had to be in her head.

But it wasn't. She was really laying in med-bay, in the Avenger's Tower, and Natasha adopted her. Just thinking about that caused a whole mess of emotions to run through the preteen. She wanted to cry, but she wanted to laugh. She felt like smiling, but she also felt like jumping up and down!

Someone _wanted_ her. They weren't just keeping her around out of obligation. They _wanted_ her. _She wanted_ her.

And that meant the whole wide world and then some to Lainey.

"I don't have to go back?" Lainey asked, wanting to be 100% sure that this was true.

"Never. You belong with me now and that's where you're going to stay." Natasha smiled reassuringly. "You're mine and I'm yours."

And there was something about that last statement that made Lainey's muscles relax so she could throw her arms around Natasha.

She belonged to Natasha now.

And despite the abuse, the kidnapping, and the experiments, and the nightmares, she was the happiest she had ever been. She knew that she would have to talk about what happened at some point, but for right now, she was content just to be in Natasha's arms.

She was safe and she was loved. That was all that mattered right now.

* * *

 ** _Понимаю_? - Understand?**

 ** _Балетная консерватория мадам Би для девочек - Madame B's Ballet Conservatory for Girls_**

* * *

 **A/N: I know it's been a while, and I'm sorry that this is so short! I've had a major case of writer's block. I wrote about two other versions of this chapter and I despised them, so I decided to give Lainey a break. I'll address everything that has happened to her in the following chapters, along with a surprise :)**


	11. Chapter 11

_"_ _I don't have to go back?" Lainey asked, wanting to be 100% sure that this was true._

 _"_ _Never. You belong with me now and that's where you're going to stay." Natasha smiled reassuringly. "You're mine and I'm yours."_

 _And there was something about that last statement that made Lainey's muscles relax so she could throw her arms around Natasha._

 _She belonged to Natasha now._

 _And despite the abuse, the kidnapping, and the experiments, and the nightmares, she was the happiest she had ever been. She knew that she would have to talk about what happened at some point, but for right now, she was content just to be in Natasha's arms._

 _She was safe and she was loved. That was all that mattered right now._

* * *

 **Chapter 11:**

"Here."

Lainey squealed as an entire outfit hit her square in the face. "Hey!"

"Hay is for horses." The redhead smirked. "I thought you'd want to get out of here as soon as possible."

"Doesn't someone have to look me over?" Lainey raised an eyebrow, before wiping the sleep from her eyes.

"Bruce came in to look you over, but you were asleep. He said you were okay to leave as soon as you woke up. Unless you don't want to leave, that's completely okay-"

"-No! I'm coming!" Lainey shot out of the bed to put her clothes on. "Someone changed me into a hospital gown? Yuck."

"What were we supposed to do? Leave you in your dirty clothes?" Natasha asked, sporting an amused look on her face before turning around. "You don't have anything I haven't seen before."

Lainey rolled her eyes, but changed anyway, climbing onto Natasha's back to let her know she was finished.

"What is this?" Natasha asked, playfully prying her off.

"I've been in bed for days. I'm not used to walking on my own two feet. My legs are weak."

"Oh?" Natasha smiled. "If your legs are so weak, how did you manage to jump up on my back? I think you're being facetious just so you won't have to walk. Child's play."

Lainey huffed and sat back down on the bed, with her arms crossed clearly pretending to be upset at the accusation.

"And now you're pretending to be upset with me because I'm seeing right through you."

Lainey looked down at her lap for a moment before looking back up at Natasha with fake tears in her eyes. "I'm not pretending, I'm really upset."

Natasha bit her lip to keep herself from laughing at the pathetic looking kid, before she held out her hands.

"What's this?" Lainey asked.

"Put your right hand in my left and you left hand in my right." Natasha instructed.

Lainey shrugged and did as she was told, giggling when Natasha swung her up on her back. "Thank you."

The redhead rolled her eyes and nodded. It wasn't too much trouble anyway. Lainey was one of those kids that always enjoyed the little things. She didn't like soda, but she loved glass coke bottles, she cherished the budding leaves of the trees and the New York City skyline. She even managed to find something beautiful in the heaviest of rainfall.

She had Natasha wrapped around her fingers and she knew it.

* * *

"Dammit!" Lainey gasped as the glass of water she had been drinking from slipped out of her hands.

She attempted to catch it so it wouldn't shatter all over the tiled floor of the kitchen, but her hands missed the cup.

To her surprise, the glass never hit the floor and neither did the water inside of it.

It just hovered in the air with a purple aura around it.

Lainey gasped as her eyes widened in disbelief. "What did he do to me?"

Her hands shook, making the glass fall and shatter all over the floor, startling her. But she didn't scream. She didn't make a sound.

She didn't want anyone to find out. How would they look at her? Some stupid kid that was experimented on to work for HYRDA? What if they thought that she _was_ HYDRA? She didn't want to take the chance, so she decided not to say a word and clean up the mess.

Unfortunately for her, she managed to gain multiple cuts on her hands from the sharp shards. It would make it harder to cover up, but maybe if she wore fingerless gloves and came up with some stupid excuse as to why she was wearing them, she could get away with it.

She could do this. She'd be fine.

If she could lie about how well she was sleeping, then she could lie about a few cuts on her hands. Sure they hurt and she almost gave up on trying to stop the bleeding, but she could make this work.

"Lainey?"

"Hi Sam." She smiled, acting as if nothing was wrong.

Luckily, she had managed to clean everything up right before he walked in. So all she really had to do was hide her hands.

"Are you okay?" He asked, opening up the fridge, pulling out a carton of orange juice only to drink straight from it.

That never failed to make Lainey cringe. She could _never_. All his germs and backwash stayed in that carton for other people to drink. That was the number one reason she had a mini-fridge in her room. The other reason was because these grown man-children thought that it was okay to eat all of her ice cream. Lainey didn't mind sharing, but when they completely demolished her favorite treat, she lost it. Natasha didn't even bother to try and stop her.

She found it to be one of the funniest things she had ever seen, but Steve "I'm Everyone's Dad" Rogers broke the crime scene up and sent Lainey to her room for her quote on quote, "disrespect and lack of control over her emotions."

Lack of control over emotions, huh? He wasn't saying that when he took a shower the next day and came out with red, white, and blue hair. Lainey has plenty of pictures and videos to prove it.

She didn't get very much ice cream after that for a long time. But it was more than worth it.

"Sure." Lainey spoke, shaking herself out of her own thoughts. "Why?"

"Just a question." Sam shrugged nonchalantly. "Are you sleeping well?"

"I'm sleeping very well, thank you." Lainey furrowed her eyebrows, her suspicion rising by the second.

"Are you sure? You've been through a lot. It's okay if you're having nightmares. Or if you can't sleep."

"I'm fine. Okay?" Lainey responded tersely, she didn't even notice that she was gripping the countertop so hard, her knuckles were white.

Not only that, but the force reopened her wounds, making her blood seep onto the counter.

Sam immediately grabbed her hand and pulled a towel off of the refrigerator door, wrapping it around the wound. "What happened to you?"

"Nothing. I just squeezed too hard." Lainey shrugged.

"Contrary to Ms. Alayna's response, she seems to have cut her hands on very sharp pieces of glass that she dropped a few minutes before you walked into the room." F.R.I.D.A.Y interjected with the truth before anything could get any worse.

"F.R.I!" Lainey gasped as being tattled on by an A.I.

"I'm sorry Ms. Alayna, but I have been programmed to inform an adult whenever you get hurt. They are Ms. Romanoff's orders."

Lainey rolled her eyes. Of course they were Natasha's orders.

Ever since the adoption papers were finalized, the redhead had made it her personal mission to "mother-hen" her as much as possible. Lainey appreciated that Natasha cared for her, but she was making Steve look like a rebel!

One day Lainey stubbed her toe on the end of the couch, and Natasha lost it. She held Lainey on her lap and cradled her for ten minutes before Lainey built up the strength to push her away.

Nobody dared to laugh at her or tell her that she may have been taking it too far. They liked being in the land of the living.

"Anytime you are injured in the slightest, I must activate the Little Romanoff protocol."

Okay, as much as Lainey hated all this coddling, 'Little Romanoff' did sound nice. Maybe she could suck it up a little bit longer.

"Ms. Romanoff has been alerted and should be arriving short-"

"-Is she okay? What happened?" Natasha sped-walked into the room, making Sam chuckle.

"Natasha, I'm fine. You didn't have to come in here." Lainey told her, trying to get her hand out of Sam's grip.

"She isn't fine. She cut her hands on some glass and tried to hide it." Sam explained.

Natasha sighed and lifted Lainey up to sit on the island, before going through the kitchen drawers to find a first-aid kit. "Unwrap the towel and give me both hands."

Lainey didn't even bother protesting, she knew it was futile, so she just did as she was told. Just because Natasha was nice to her, didn't mean that she could be taken advantage of.

"Well, you don't need stitches. It just looks worse than it is. Why didn't you tell anyone that you needed help?" The former assassin asked, cleaning the cuts.

"There was no one around and I didn't need anyone's help, I'm not a little kid." Lainey snarled, making both adults in the room raise their eyebrows.

"Watch yourself." Was all Natasha said.

That's all she had to say. Lainey knew she was wrong even before the sentence came out of her mouth. Somehow, her mouth overpowered her brain and she ended up saying it anyway.

"You know what?" Sam chuckled nervously, making his way to the elevator. "I think Vision's trying to call me."

He was no fool.

Natasha's reaction wasn't something she particularly expected. Nevertheless, Lainey listened.

"Sorry." She spoke quietly, watching the redhead, dab Neosporin on her wounds.

"What?" Natasha finished up and tilted Lainey's chin so she could look her in the eyes.

"I'm sorry." Lainey repeated a little more clearly than before.

Natasha nodded and put everything away before turning back to the child. "I noticed you haven't been sleeping well."

"How'd you know?" Lainey's eyes widened.

"I know everything." Natasha crossed her arms. "That isn't the point. Have you been having nightmares?"

"No...…yes."

"About what?"

"Both my parents…...HYDRA…...whatever they injected me with." Lainey didn't even bother to try and lie.

It wasn't worth it. Natasha would know and she was already upset with her once. She wasn't dumb enough to poke the bear twice.

Not on purpose anyway.

"Your mother is in S.H.I.E.L.D. custody." Natasha began. "Your father is dead. You were injected with something that isn't life threatening. You don't need to worry. You are _not_ alone. We're all right beside you. You can come to any one of us for anything. You don't have to go through this by yourself."

* * *

"Okay." Lainey sighed. "Here we go."

Lainey looked at the jump ropes on the training room floor and stretched her hands out, hoping to be able to lift them.

She did everything she could think of, but nothing worked.

So she just stopped trying.

But before she put her hands down, the ropes floated off the ground.

"I knew there was something more you were hiding."

Lainey shrieked and lost focus, dropping the ropes, before turning around to face Wanda. "Please don't tell anyone!"

"Why do you feel the need to hide?" Wanda stepped further into the room, noticing how Lainey's body grew rigid as her fight or flight response tried to force its way to the surface.

"I don't know how to…...they injected me with this…...what if everyone thinks I'm a monster, or HYDRA?"

"Do you think I'm HYDRA?" Wanda asked gently. "I chose to undergo the experiments.'

"Well of course not, but-"

"-Then how could anyone possibly think that you're a monster? You didn't choose this. This was out of your control. It isn't your fault."

"But they only had me so I could work for HYDRA." Lainey insisted. "I was only born so that HYDRA could use me. How could they see me as anything else?"

Wanda sighed and wrapped her arms around the brunette. "I can tell you that you're not a monster as many times as I'd like, you have to believe it yourself. I think you should tell Natasha."

Lainey shook her head rapidly and pulled herself out of the older girl's embrace. "I can't. She'll never look at me the same way again."

It wasn't true, but like Wanda said earlier, she could try to convince Lainey all she wanted to, Lainey would have to come to terms her own way.

"Would you feel better if I taught you how to control your powers?" She suggested, dropping the subject.

If Lainey didn't tell Natasha, and if and _only_ if this got out of hand, she'd take matters into her own hands. She didn't want to betray her trust, but Natasha had a right to know what was going on with her child.

The redhead took her parental responsibilities very seriously and Wanda didn't blame her. Lainey was precious.

"Please." Lainey nodded.

"Okay." Wanda smiled fondly. "Moving things with your mind is more than just making them go from one place to another. You can't hope that they'll get there. You have to believe that you're moving them. Don't think too hard."

The Maximoff girl lifted her hands and moved a dumbbell, a red aura surrounding the item. Lainey watched carefully as she gently put it down, not making a sound or an effort in doing so.

"Your turn, but try it with the ropes. Don't be afraid of it. If you become afraid of it, it controls you."

Lainey inhaled deeply and shook her hands.

Here goes nothing. She lifted her hands just like Wanda did and instead of thinking about moving the jump ropes, she didn't think of anything at all.

And it worked. Lainey managed to gain control of her power and moved the rope from one side of the room, to the other in awe. She had no idea she could actually pull it off. And so quickly too!

"If you'd like, I could train you...…just incase something were to happen and you need to defend yourself."

"I'd like that."

And just like that, a hole in both of their hearts began to mend. Neither one of them spoke a word about Lainey's newfound powers to Natasha. It was their little secret for the time being. They had reached an understanding. As long as Lainey continued to train, Wanda wouldn't spill the beans. Lainey managed to gain a close friend, confidante, and sister in Wanda. Something she never knew she needed, being raised an only child. She liked having a sister. She could talk to Wanda about anything and the older girl would listen intently, studying her emotions, yet never reading her mind, until she found an opportunity to give her advice.

Not only did Wanda help her physically, but she also helped her emotionally. Even though she still had nightmares, they became less and less frequent to the point where she could finally get a good night's sleep and get back to school. She was gaining control of her life again.

Little did Lainey know that as much as she thought Wanda was doing for her, she was doing so much more for Wanda. She couldn't replace Pietro, no. But she did make her longing heart much easier to bear to the point where she felt that she didn't miss him so much anymore. She would tell Lainey stories about him when they lived in Sokovia. The good and the bad. She told the younger girl that Pietro would've loved her and that meant the world to her.

Two girls from completely opposite sides of the world, brought together, forming a bond that could never, and would never break.

Did it get any better than that?

* * *

 **A/N: Hi guys! Happy May! Did anyone see Endgame? I'm going to be honest, it broke me. So I'm writing to cope. I know this story may seem a little rushed, so I plan to write a series of one shotes, featuring missing scenes from this story. Anyway, Lainey has powers and she knows how to use them...somewhat and next up is Civil War!**


	12. Chapter 12

_Little did Lainey know that as much as she thought Wanda was doing for her, she was doing so much more for Wanda. She couldn't replace Pietro, no. But she did make her longing heart much easier to bear to the point where she felt that she didn't miss him so much anymore. She would tell Lainey stories about him of when they lived in Sokovia. The good and the bad. She told the younger girl that Pietro would've loved her. That meant the world to her._

 _Two girls from completely opposite sides of the world, brought together, forming a bond that could never, and would never break._

 _Did it get any better than that?_

* * *

 **Chapter Twelve: And So it Begins**

"Lainey"

Sarah tried to get the twelve year old's attention, but she was off in space.

Their teacher was teaching them about linear equations and she really didn't feel like having to explain it to her.

Again.

"Lainey. Pay attention."

But Lainey just couldn't. Ever since she left for school that morning, she had had this awful feeling that something was _wrong_. That something was going to happen that was out of her control.

What else was new?

Luckily, math was the last class of the day, so as soon as the final bell rung, Lainey sprung out of her seat, not even sparing her friend a second glance, or waiting for Peter, before rushing towards Happy's car. She had to make sure everyone was okay.

The team had gone on a mission to Lagos to stop Brock Rumlow and other HYDRA agents. Lainey just didn't feel right about the mission. She didn't tell anyone, for fear of them thinking that she was being paranoid, but now she was kind of wishing that she had.

Her gut instincts were always very accurate, and yet she still chose to ignore them.

"Tony!" She called, rushing onto the common floor and putting her backpack down by the elevator.

That's something she did everyday that drove Natasha absolutely nuts. She told Lainey to put her bag in her room so she wouldn't kill anyone who was walking through the doors, but the habit was extremely hard to break.

…...Or maybe she just kept doing it because she knew it irked Natasha. Who knows?

"Natasha!" She called for the redhead and received no answer. The floor was pretty empty, so Lainey could only assume that everyone was still on the mission and Tony was still at M.I.T.

She knew that Vision had stayed behind to make sure that she wouldn't come home to an empty house, but she really didn't feel like looking for him.

Besides, her nightmares had decided to make another appearance. This time, instead of being about that big purple thumb, they were about her mother.

The dream started out beautifully, she and her mother were out in Central Park, right by the Bow Bridge, eating sandwiches.

Peanut butter and banana, to be exact.

 _It was a bright summer's day, the leaves on the trees were a vibrant green, and the sun shined down with a comforting glow._

 _"_ _Mommy?" A seven year old Lainey asked, rolling over from where she lay on the grass. "Can I ask you something?"_

 _"_ _You can ask me anything." Allison smiled warmly, brushing a stubborn strand of hair away from the child's face. "I'm always here to listen."_

 _Lainey smiled and leaned into the women's touch, basking in the love she so craved to receive. "You'll always love me, right? And we'll always be together?"_

 _"_ _Para siempre mi vida. Para siempre."_

 _"_ _Te quiero mucho Mommy."_

 _"_ _Te quiero mucho más mi corazón y mi alma."_

When Lainey woke up, she had really believed that everything was back to the way it was. She thought she was still living at home in the small apartment in the Bronx. Everything was fine. She was in her own bed, in her own room, and her mother was a few doors down, sleeping peacefully.

What made the dream a nightmare, was Lainey snapping out of the momentary delusion as she finally opened her eyes to look around the room.

Her mother wasn't a few doors down, she wasn't in the home she had grown up in and come to love, and nothing would ever be the same.

It was _haunting_.

Why didn't her mother love her? Was it something she did? Was she just tired of her?

She knew she was just an experiment for HYDRA, but couldn't she have grown to love her in all the years they spent together? She wasn't always like this!

She was a good woman! A gentle woman! She'd never hurt anyone!

Why did she hurt Lainey?

How could she hurt Lainey?

"I think it's time to find out." The brunette mumbled to herself, making her way to the elevator. "F.R.I.D.A.Y.?"

"Yes Ms. Alayna?" The AI piped up.

"Take me to my mother's cell."

"I am not authorized to perform such an action. It is against the Little Romanoff-"

"-Override." Lainey squeezed her fists, hoping that that little word would be enough to get her what she wanted.

"Overriding the Little Romanoff Protocol." The AI spoke, closing the elevator doors, allowing the machine to descend all the way to sub level eight.

When the doors opened, Lainey's eyes widened at what she saw.

Her mother was sitting in a cell, reading a spanish novel while taking small bites of an apple.

A gala apple. She wouldn't eat any other type of apple except galas.

That was one thing that she and Lainey had in common.

"Look who's here. Did you miss me?" Allison's eyes never left the book she was so engrossed in. "Come to gloat?"

"No, I came to talk to you…...you're still my mother." Lainey inched her way closer to the woman's cell.

"Oh cut the crap." Allison slammed the book shut, making Lainey jump. "You came here because you want something, not because you felt like coming by for a visit."

"No, I-"

"-What do you want? What was so important that you had to disobey your new mother to come and see me?" Allison spat.

"I wanted to ask you something…...a few things...…"

"Spit it out." The older woman threw the apple core at the glass, making Lainey jump back.

Even behind a barrier, Allison managed to make Lainey nervous. She couldn't physically get to her, but she definitely made an emotional impression.

"Pathetic. I'm trapped in a cell, and you're still afraid of me. Grow up and tell me whatever the hell you want to know before I break out of this hellhole and beat the crap out of you."

Lainey felt herself starting to sweat as her blood ran cold. She was beginning to think that this wasn't such a good idea, but she had to do this. No one else was going to be able to give her the answers that she wanted.

So despite her trembling legs, and sweaty palms, she stood up straight and looked her mother in the eyes before opening up her mouth.

"What did he put in me?"

"Your father?" Allison rolled her eyes. "He injected you with a serum that would enhance your control over the things around you. Telekinesis with a hint of elemental control. When you were born, we knew we had to do everything possible to make you into one of HYDRA's best possessions. And even though your father left, we were still in agreement. We stayed in contact through all those years, waiting for the right time. See, we didn't have you because we wanted a child, we had you because we wanted a soldier. An asset."

A frigid chill ran up and down Lainey's spine as she looked at her mother in disbelief. She wasn't born for love. She was born for a purpose. She was a project, a thing. Every waking moment she had spent in this life wasn't even hers, it was her parents', it was HYDRA's. She had never been loved, she had just been an object to be used for something greater. She wasn't even a real person. She was an asset.

Everything she had ever known was a lie.

Allison was clearly enjoying the look of devastation that had made its home on Lainey's face. She had always thought the girl was dramatic, but this was satisfying. "I wonder how long it'll be before she dumps you too." She changed the subject to deliver the killer blow.

"What?" Lainey gasped, nearly in tears from the immense pain she was feeling in her chest.

"Natasha Romanoff. The Black Widow. The spy. Do you really think she has any use for you, other than to use you?" The woman threw in her last two-cents. "She cares nothing for you. She's manipulating you just like I was, and when she's done, she'll get rid of you."

Lainey didn't even bother speaking. It wasn't like she could. Her heart was pounding so hard, she could feel it in her ears, her lip trembled, and all she could do was stand there. She couldn't speak, she couldn't cry, and she couldn't make a clever enough response in Natasha's defense.

 _It isn't true!_ She wanted to scream. She _knew_ it wasn't true.

But all she could think to do was run.

It was what she did best.

* * *

"Wanda?" Lainey sniffled, peaking her head in the older girl's doorway.

"Not right now baby, I'd like to be alone." Came a tearful reply.

Lainey had come to her room seeking comfort after what her mother had told her, but hearing Wanda in distress made her push her own problems aside and ignore the Sokovian's request for solitude. When she was upset, she didn't like to be alone. She didn't think anyone did. Everyone needs someone to comfort them when they feel less than themselves. Even if they wouldn't admit to it.

"Wanda? Whats wrong?" The twelve year old asked, making her way into the room, sitting right next to Wanda on her bed.

Wanda's attention was too focused on her television to respond to Lainey's question. When Lainey looked at the screen, her eyes widened in shock. Wanda had the news playing and right now, the media was covering their mission in Lagos. The news reporters were talking about how the Avengers screwed up and how Wanda was dangerous and out of control.

They showed a a cellphone clip someone sent in, of Wanda forming a shield around Rumlow, just as he detonated a bomb. She lifted him up and lost control, making him crash land into the side of a building, killing nearly everyone inside.

"What happened Wanda?" The curly-haired child asked, not quite willing to believe what she was seeing.

"I killed them." Wanda deadpanned as tears rolled down her face. "Innocent people are dead because of me."

"But you didn't mean to kill them! You were just helping!"

Wanda turned to face Lainey and sent her a gentle smile. "That's not what everyone else thinks."

Lainey's eyebrows furrowed in annoyance at how ignorant people could really be. All Wanda wanted to do was save people, but because of one mistake, all she was getting now was grief.

She didn't deserve it.

"I still love you Wanda…..." Lainey looked her right in the eyes. "Even if they don't."

It was such a childishly simple sentence, and yet it made Wanda burst into a new set of tears. She had been feeling like an absolute monster that needed to be put down, but Lainey managed to see the best in her and tried to make her feel better anyway.

"Please don't cry." The younger girl wiped her tears away as some of her own escaped her eyes. "It's going to be okay. It was an accident."

"I killed those people sweetheart. They're gone because of me." Wanda gently pulled Lainey to sit on her lap, needing to hold her close.

"It's okay to be sad." Lainey sniffled. "I don't feel too good either. We can be sad together if you want."

That made Wanda giggle through some of her tears. Even in sadness, Lainey was generous. She was a gem. A priceless gem that everyone in the compound held onto and refused to let go of.

" _They are operating outside and above the international law. Because that's the reality, if we don't respond to acts like these._ " A news anchor spoke on the television as the two girls continued to watch.

" _What legal authority does does an enhanced individual like Wanda Maximoff have to operate in Nigeri_ -"

Both Lainey and Wanda turned their heads to see who shut the t.v. off while they were still watching it.

It was Steve. He was standing against the doorframe, looking more tired than Lainey had ever seen him. He seemed to be carrying the weight of the world right on his two shoulders. Lagos was bearing down on everyone.

"It's my fault." Wanda spoke, absentmindedly pushing an unruly curl away from Lainey's eyes.

Steve shook his head, unwilling to let her believe such a thing. "That's not true."

"Turn the t.v. back on. They're being very specific."

"I should've clocked that bomb vest long before you had to deal with it." The blonde sighed and moved to sit down on the bed next to the two brunettes. "Rumlow said "Bucky" and all of a sudden I was a sixteen year old kid in Brooklyn again...…people died, and it's on me."

Lainey looked back and forth between the two, knowing that there was really nothing she could say or do to convince them that it wasn't their faults. At least, not right now. They needed time to grieve, to cope. They _did_ say that time is the healer of all wounds.

The twelve year old could only hope that that was true, so they could all heal.

"It's on both of us."

"This job…...We try to save as many people as we can. Sometimes that doesn't mean everybody. But if we can't find a way to live with that, next time…...maybe nobody gets saved." Steve dished out a hard truth just before Vision sifted through the wall.

"Vis!" Wanda scolded gently. "We talked about this!"

Vision at least had the decency to look apologetic before responding. "Yes, but the door was open, so I just assumed...…"

"You still have to go through the door Vision." Lainey smiled at the AI, trying to make him feel better. "But it's okay."

"Thank you Alayna." He smiled at the young girl before looking at Steve. "Captain Rogers wished to know when Mr. Stark was arriving."

"Thank you. We'll be right down."

"I'll use the door this time around. Oh! Apparently, he's he's brought a guest."

"Who?" Lainey asked curiously.

"The Secretary of State."

This couldn't be good.

* * *

"Five years ago. I had a heart attack. I dropped right in the middle of my backswing. Turns out, it was the best round of my life, because after thirteen hours of surgery and a triple bypass, I found something forty years in the army had never taught me: Perspective." Thaddeus Ross, the Secretary of State spoke as everyone sat in the conference room.

Lainey had begged Steve to let her sit in and listen to what was going on, and him being the softy that he is, let her. Natasha really didn't want her to hear anything that was going to be said, but by the the time she had figured out what was happening, she couldn't really do anything to stop it from taking place. She was going to kill Steve for this.

And that's how the twelve year old ended up sharing a seat with her adoptive mother, because one, there weren't any seats left, and two, the redhead wanted to keep and eye on her and make sure she sat still during the meeting.

As Lainey listened to the secretary speak, she had to fight every single urge in her body to not roll her eyes. She hated Ross. She had heard awful stories about him and did her best to steer clear of him whenever he came to visit. He came off as a rude and arrogant man who didn't care about anyone but himself. She didn't want people like that in her life.

"The world owes the Avengers an unplayable debt. You've fought for us, protected us, risked your lives…...but while a great many people see you as heroes, there are some...…who would prefer the word, 'vigilante'."

"And what word would you use Mr. Secretary?" Natasha asked.

"How about, 'dangerous'?" Ross bit back. "What would you call a group of US based, enhanced individuals who routinely ignore sovereign borders and inflict their will wherever they choose and who, frankly, seem unconcerned about what they leave behind?"

Lainey swallowed nervously and looked at Natasha to see her reaction, but when she saw that the woman was completely calm, she settled down and continued to listen.

"New York. Washington D.C. Sokovia. Lagos." Ross narrated as he showed them footage of all the damaged they've left behind in each of those places.

Lainey vaguely remembered the Battle of New York. She and Peter were in the city at the time, just taking a stroll with Ben and May when the Chitauri flooded the streets. Buildings were being destroyed, people were screaming, and debris was everywhere, making it hard to run anywhere. She remembered being so frightened by the wormhole in the sky, thinking that if she wasn't careful, she'd get sucked in. Luckily, Ben and May managed to get the two kids home, safe and sound. The same couldn't be said for a lot of other families.

"Okay." Steve spoke up, taking notice of how much the clip of Lagos was affecting Wanda. "That's enough."

The poor girl had lost everything in Sokovia and she was making great progress. She didn't need this kind of a setback.

"For the past four years, you've operated with unlimited power and no supervision. That's an arrangement the governments of the world can no longer tolerate. But I think we have a solution." Ross picked up a large stack of papers, bounded together and slid them across the table.

Wanda took them and looked at Rhodey in confusion, before passing them to him.

"The Sokovia Accords. Approved by 117 countries." Ross explained. "It states that the Avengers will no longer be a private organization. Instead, they'll operate under the supervision of a United Nations panel, only when and if deemed necessary."

Lainey tapped Natasha gently, pleading for an explanation with her eyes alone, but Natasha shook her head and put a finger to her lips. She'd tell her all about it later, but right now she had to stay quiet.

"The Avengers were formed to make the world a safer place. I feel we've done that." Steve argued, not at all in favor of where this was going.

They didn't need the government to tell them what they could and couldn't do. The Accords were just going to create problems for all of them in the long run.

"Tell me Captain, do you know where Thor and Banner are right now?" Ross challenged. When he didn't receive an answer, he continued. "If I misplaced a couple of thirty megaton nukes, you can bet there'd be consequences. Compromise. Reassurance. That's how the world works. Believe me, this is the middle ground."

For one thing, Thor was in Asgard, doing who knows what. And for another, Banner hulked out again and nearly destroyed the Compound a few months prior, so he decided to leave for the safety of everyone else. No one wanted him to go, but he just didn't feel right staying when he wasn't truly in control of himself. They hadn't seen him since.

It angered Lainey to think that Ross really compared living beings to nukes. They weren't dangerous. They just did the best they could with what they had. Most of these situations weren't even their fault! New York was all Loki, Washington D.C. was HYDRA, and sure, Tony created Ultron, but it wasn't his fault that the thing turned on everyone, and Lagos was definitely not Wanda's fault.

"So there are contingencies," Rhodey acknowledged, a calculating look etched on his face.

"Three days from now, the UN meets in Vienna to ratify the Accords." Ross nodded. "Talk it over."

"And if we come to a decision you don't like?'

"Then you retire, Ms. Romanoff."

That left a thick tension in the air, that would never dissipate again.

* * *

"Secretary Ross has a Congressional Medal of Honor, which is one more than you have." Rhodey argued with Sam.

That's all that's been happening since Ross left. They had made their way to the common room and immediately started arguing.

It was beginning to give Lainey anxiety. She did her best to hide it, but as their voices got louder and more aggressive, it grew harder to contain. She started out by picking at her nails, then twirling her hair, and now she was full on biting her nails while her leg bounced at a rapid pace.

Why couldn't they just talk this out? Why did they have to yell at each other like this?

"So let's say we agree to this thing. How long is it gonna be before they LoJack us like a bunch of common criminals?" Sam retaliated.

"117 countries want to sign this thing Sam! 117. And you're just like, 'Nah, it's cool. We got it'."

"How long are you going to play both sides?" Sam stepped closer to Rhodey.

"I have an equation." Vision interrupted before it could get out of hand.

"Oh, this'll clear it up." Sam rolled his eyes, but turned to listen anyway.

"In eight years since Mr. Stark announced himself as Iron Man, the number of noted enhanced persons has grown exponentially. And during the same period, the number of potentially world-ending events has risen at a commensurate rate." Vision began to explain.

"Are you saying that it's our fault?"

"I'm saying that there maybe a causality." The AI looked at Steve. "Our very strength invites challenge. Challenge incites conflict. Conflict...…breeds catastrophe. Oversight…... ..Oversight is not an idea that could be dismissed out-of-hand."

"Boom." Rhodey sent a pointed look Sam's way.

"Tony, you are being uncharacteristically non hyper verbal." Natasha pointed out, before pulling Lainey's hands away from her mouth.

Lainey tried to put them back in when she looked away, but apparently, Natasha expected that and pulled them down again, handing her a Rubik's cube to keep herself busy. She didn't know where Natasha got it from, but she was glad to have it. It would distract her from some of the tension in the room.

"That's because he's already made up his mind." Steve spoke, turning his attention to the billionaire, who happened to be slouching on the couch with a hand over his face.

"Boy, you know me so well." He stood up, running his hand over the back of his head, before he made his way over to the kitchen. Everyone save Lainey, watched as he grabbed a mug and attempted to make himself a cup of coffee. "Actually, I'm nursing an electro-magnetic headache…...That's what's going on Cap. It's just pain. It's discomfort." He looked in the sink and growled at what he saw. "Who's putting coffee grounds in the garbage disposal? Am I running a bed and breakfast for a biker gang?"

They all knew that he wasn't actually upset about the coffee grounds in the garbage disposal, so they kept their eyes on him, just incase he actually decided to voice what was on his mind.

And he did. The philanthropist pulled his phone out of his pocket and put it to stand up in a basket, before it projected an image of a young boy. The boy appeared to be happy with a smile brightening his features.

"Oh that's Charles Spencer by the way. He's a great kid. Computer engineering degree, had a floor level gig at Intel planned for the fall. But first, he wanted to put a few miles on his soul, before he parked it behind a desk. See the world. Maybe be of service." Tony sipped a cup of his failed coffee before continuing. "Charles didn't want to go to Vegas or Fort Lauderdale, which is what I would do. He didn't go to Paris or Amsterdam, which sounds fun. He decided to spend his summer, building sustainable housing for the poor. Guess where? Sokovia."

Lainey immediately turned her attention away from her Rubik's cube and looked at everyone in the room.

They all looked shaken by the revelation. Like Charles Spencer's blood was on their hands. Which, it very well may have been, but Lainey wasn't there, so she couldn't give her opinion on the matter. Besides that, it was really none of her business.

"He wanted to make a difference, I suppose. I mean, we won't know because we dropped a building on him while we were kicking ass." Tony popped what looked like an aspirin into his mouth and downed it with some coffee, clearly having been affected by his knowledge of the young boy's death. "There's no decision making process here. We need to be put in check. Whatever form that takes, I'm game. If we can't accept limitations, if we're boundary-less, we're no better than the bad guys."

"Tony, if someone dies on your watch, you don't give up." Steve responded.

And as if it was a reflex reaction, Lainey tensed. All the muscles in her body contracted and refused to release, making her nearly lose her grip on the Rubik's cube that had one side completed.

The white side.

No one seemed to notice as her breathing became ragged and shallow. The adults in the room were too wrapped up in their conversation to see how fast her fingers flew to her mouth, providing her with nails to bite off.

"Who said we're giving up?"

"We are if we're not taking responsibility for our actions." Steve tried to make his point. "This document just shifts the blame."

"I'm sorry Steve. That…...that is _dangerously_ arrogant. This is the _United Nations_ we're talking about. It's not the World Security Council, it's not SHIELD, it's not HYDRA." Rhodey broke in.

"No, but it's run by people with agendas, and agendas change."

"That's _good_." Tony abandoned his coffee and made his way over to the rest of them. "When I realized what my weapons were capable of in the wrong hands, I shut it down and stopped manufacturing."

"Tony, you _chose_ to do that. If we sign this, we surrender our right to choose. What if this panel sends us somewhere we don't think we should go? What if there's somewhere we need to go and they don't let us? We may not be perfect, but the safest hands are still our own."

This was the equivalent to watching your parents fight right in front of you. There was nothing you could do to stop it, but for some reason, you forced yourself to watch. No one in the room was technically fighting, but they were close. It was enough to make Lainey's thoughts spin out of control.

What if one of them went too far and they actually started to exchange blows? What if they never solved this? What would happen then?

"If we don't do this now, it's gonna be done to us later." Tony threw his hands up. "That won't be pretty."

"You're saying they'll come for me." Wanda deadpanned, not even able to muster up enough energy to look frightened by the idea.

But Vision wouldn't let her entertain it. "We would protect you."

What did she mean, come for her? What was going on? What were they not telling her? Why would they want to take Wanda? Where would they take Wanda?

"Maybe Tony's right." Natasha once again pulled Lainey's hand away from her mouth, but this time, she held it so she wouldn't be able to bite her nails again.

She could feel how anxious Lainey was and that gave her pause. They needed to start listening to reason before they bit each other's heads off without thinking first. This situation wasn't just black and white. "If we have one hand on the wheel, we can still steer. If we take it off-"

"-I'm sorry, aren't you the same woman who told the government to _kiss_ her ass a few years ago?" Sam looked shocked.

In fact, there wasn't anyone there that didn't look shocked. Not once has Natasha ever agreed with Tony and not once has she ever sided with the government this way.

Not since Washington D.C.

"I'm just...…I'm reading the terrain. We have made some very…...public mistakes. We need to win their trust back." The redhead explained, pulling Lainey closer to her, stroking her hair.

She had taken one good look at her face and saw that she was on the verge of a panic attack. She knew she shouldn't have let her stay and listen to these conversations, but there was no changing the past. All she could do now, was try to calm her down and explain everything in detail soon.

Very soon.

"Focus up." Tony joked, attempting to lighten the mood for the twelve year old's benefit. "I'm sorry, did I mishear you or did you just agree with me?"

"Oh, I want to take it back."

"No, no, no. You can't retract it. Thank you. Unprecedented. Okay, case closed, right CurlyLocks?"

" _Caso cerrado Mama_." Lainey nodded, calm enough to see the humor in what Tony had just said, yet aware enough to realize what she had just called Natasha.

And suddenly, all eyes were on her.

Fantastic.

She was mortified. Her first instincts were to pull away from the woman, but she didn't want to make it seem like a big deal and draw anymore attention to herself. What she really _really_ wanted to do, was crawl into a hole and bury herself. This was so embarrassing. What made her think that she could call her that? She should've just kept her big mouth shut. How hard was it to stay quiet, smile, and nod? She was never going to live this down. She might as well just write, 'I'm an awkward idiot' on her forehead and move to a convent where no one knows her name.

Fortunately, the watchful eyes didn't remain trained on her for long.

Steve's phone vibrated and he took it out to check it. He had gotten a text. Whatever was in it, must've been bad, because his face went from being amused, to heartbroken.

"What is it Steve?" Sam asked his friend, voicing his concern.

"I have to go." Steve put the Accords he had been holding down on the coffee table and left the room without another word.

Lainey had never seen Steve look so hopeless.

What was in that text?

* * *

"Lainey." Natasha rubbed her back.

"I don't want to talk." Lainey mumbled, her voice muffled by a throw pillow. "Leave me here to die."

A few minutes after Steve had left, which clearly meant the meeting was over, everyone turned their attention back to Lainey and smirked. She obviously couldn't handle all those eyes on her at once, so she ripped herself out of Natasha's embrace and buried her face into a pillow, refusing to look up.

"Come on CurlyLocks, there's no need to be embarrassed." Tony smiled and gently tugged on one of her curls, hoping to annoy her enough to make her moved her head. "That was cute."

"No it wasn't." Lainey whined. "You're just saying that so I'll look up and then you can laugh at me."

"No one will laugh at you." Wanda spoke gently.

"No?"

Lainey was just about to lift her head up when Sam busted out laughing. He didn't even try to hide it. He just guffawed without any shame.

Jerk.

"See! I told you!"

"Alright." Natasha decided to put Lainey out of her misery. "Everyone out."

"Oh come on!" Sam whined as Rhodey pushed him towards the door with the rest of the Avengers, except for Tony, following. "You can't tell me that that wasn't a little funny."

"If it makes you feel any better, I accidentally called my ninth grade physics teacher 'Mom'." Tony told the child.

"That makes me feel even worse! I'll just die!"

"Tony, get out of here." Natasha glared at him, hoping he'd get the message.

"Fine!" He started walking with his hands up in surrender. "Look on the bright side kid, you'll look back at this one day and laugh. Hey Nat? Can I be the godfather?"

"Out!"

"Okay!" He chuckled and finally exited the room, leaving the two alone.

"Alright Lainey, there's no one here but us."

Lainey studied the silence for a moment before responding. "Are you sure?"

"Why don't you take a look for yourself?"

Lainey sighed and peeked up from the soft pillow and found that Natasha hadn't been lying just to get her to do what she wanted.

But she refused to look at her.

"I think we need to talk."

"No we don't. It was an accident." Lainey shook her head, staring at the refrigerator.

It was a nice one too. It was white with chrome handles and a nice ice dispenser. It had freezer drawers at the bottom and settings that could be altered, depending on what kind of ice was desired.

Chunky, cubed, rectangular, crushed-

"Alayna, look at me."

"No thank you."

And then there was that _stove_. Lainey had never seen so many burners on a stove in her life! There were eight on this one and they were electric instead of gas, which she thought was better for the environment and-

"If you don't look at me, you won't get a lick of ice cream until your eighteenth birthday." Natasha threatened.

It was a cheap shot, but it worked. No sooner did the words leave her mouth, did Lainey's head whip around to face her. Natasha thought she even heard her neck crack.

"Maybe next time I'll start with that."

"That was mean, I'm going back to my postmortem pillow."

"No you're not." The Russian stopped her from lying back down. "And it's, pre-mortem. You aren't dead."

"I am, on the inside."

"You're a drama queen, you know that? Do you even remember what you were so embarrassed about?" She asked. "Because with all this fuss you've been raising, I wouldn't be surprised if you forgot."

"I do too remember." Lainey crossed her arms and looked away childishly.

"Looks like we're going to have to do it my way." Natasha shrugged and unceremoniously lifted the preteen to sit on her lap, much to her surprise and chagrin.

First she called her 'Mama', and now she was making her sit on her lap? How much more of this would she be able to take?

"And quite frankly, I don't know why you're beating yourself up about it. It's no big deal."

Lainey didn't know what was worse, having everyone make it into a big deal, or having Natasha brush it off like it was nothing.

She obviously thought of Natasha as her mother. That's why the moniker slipped from her mouth. It just hurt to think that Natasha didn't see her as her daughter. Maybe she just adopted her to help her. It had nothing to do with love or anything. She was just doing her job as an Avenger. Allison was right.

"What's going on in here?" Natasha put a gentle hand on her head and asked, to which Lainey immediately shrugged. "I can't read your mind honey. Would you please tell me?"

"You don't really want me, do you?"

The poor kid was so used to being someone's play thing, to be used and cast aside when whoever had her was done. But that wasn't the case here. No, here she was loved and cherished. She didn't need to worry about any of that anymore. Natasha just wished she could help her believe it.

"Of course I want you. Why do you think I went through all of this to keep you?"

"Because you like Peter and you were just doing your job."

"You know that isn't true." Natasha gave her a pointed look. "If you had just talked to me instead of hiding your face in a pillow for half an hour, you'd know exactly how I feel."

Lainey sighed and once again, started to bite her nails. Which Natasha started to realize was a _really_ bad habit of hers. It was unhygienic too.

"Would you stop biting your nails?" She pulled her hand down. "That's disgusting Alayna, do you know how many germs get underneath your nails during the day?" She made the girl wipe her hands on her shirt before continuing. "What made you call me that?"

"I don't know…...you've been acting like it a lot lately."

"I have?"

"Yeah, you don't let me eat as much candy as I did before, I can't have ice cream for dinner, you make me clean my room, and you don't let me stay up late." Lainey rattled off of the top of her head. "Which I'm perfectly capable of doing, by the way."

She was definitely _not_ capable of staying up late. That's why she has a curfew. Natasha used to let her stay up however late she wanted, but it was always a struggle to get her up in the morning, and when she was up, she was a monster. She grumbled things under her breath in Spanish and she'd glare at anyone who dared to look in her direction before noon.

"Don't you think that if I didn't want to do all of those things, I wouldn't?" Natasha questioned. "Alayna, I want to be your mother. Why won't you let yourself be my daughter?"

"You weren't mad at me earlier?"

"No."

"And you _really_ don't mind?"

"What for? I'm your mother, aren't I?"

That was all it took for Lainey to throw her arms around Natasha's neck and squeeze. Not that the assassin minded. She was glad that Lainey felt comfortable enough to express how she was feeling now that everything was out in the open.

Well, almost everything.

But Natasha didn't need to about that right this minute, did she?

"Mom…...Mommy…...Mama…..." Lainey tried out different variations, deciding that she liked 'Mama' best.

It was music to Natasha's ears. It meant that the Red Room really hadn't taken everything from her. She _could_ be a mother and she _was_ a mother. She was taking back her life one day at a time, and was being granted the best gift she could ask for.

* * *

 **Para siempre mi vida, para siempre - Forever my life, forever.**

 **Te quiero mucho - I love you very much.**

 **Te quiero mucho mi** **corazón y mi alma - I love you very much, my heart and soul.**

 **Caso cerrado - Case closed.**

* * *

 **A/N: Hello everyone! I've given Lainey a nice balance of angst and happiness in this chapter. She can rest easy tonight! I'm still heartbroken over Endgame, so I highly doubt that this story will be IW/EG compliant. Let me know what you thought of this chapter! I'll have those one shots ready soon! XOXOXO**


	13. Chapter 13

_"And you really don't mind?"_

 _"What for? I'm your mother, aren't I?"_

 _That was all it took for Lainey to throw her arms around Natasha's neck and squeeze. Not that the assassin minded. She was glad that Lainey felt comfortable enough to express how she was feeling now that everything was out in the open._

 _Well, almost everything._

 _But Natasha didn't need to about that right this minute, did she?_

 _"Mom…...Mommy…...Mama…..." Lainey tried out different variations, deciding that she liked 'Mama' best._

 _It was music to Natasha's ears. It meant that the Red Room really hadn't taken everything from her. She could be a mother and she was a mother. She was taking back her life one day at a time, and was being granted the best gift she could ask for._

* * *

 **Chapter Thirteen:**

"Nat, she'll be fine with me." Tony assured the redhead.

"I know." She sighed. "I just hope she doesn't think that I'm handing her off to you."

She had to go to Vienna for the official signing of the Accords and she didn't want Lainey to miss any school because of it. There was going to be a quick conference at the UN and then she would come home. There was no need for Lainey to come along.

She had explained it to the brunette, and Lainey told her that she really didn't mind, but the Russian was still a little concerned.

"She won't. She's a strong kid, and she knows that you love her and want to do what's best for her." The billionaire sent her a comforting smile. "Besides, after you, I'm the kid's favorite. I _am_ her godfather after all."

"You're all her godfathers." Natasha corrected him, referring to every male on the team. "And after me, Wanda's her favorite."

Tony bristled and shook his head. "But I'm her _favorite godfather_. I can claim that, can't I?"

"Until she proves you wrong, yes, you can claim it."

"Fantastic." The Italian's eyes crinkled as he smiled. "I have to level with you though. Motherhood looks really good on you Nat."

"Thanks Shellhead, maybe you'll have kids of your own someday."

Tony scoffed at the very thought. "Me? Yeah right. I can't raise a kid. I'd rather just be the fun Uncle that sends them home after each day."

"You might change your mind Tony. You might change your mind."

Meanwhile, Lainey grabbed a black backpack that she had stuffed as many clothes as she could inside of, making sure she had all of her necessities in it, before zipping it. She put her phone on airplane mode and shut off the wifi just so it couldn't be tracked, before throwing it in there too.

There was a reason she had been so calm and understanding when her mother explained what was going on. She was planning to follow her.

It wasn't exactly the right thing to do, but Lainey wanted to do it. It was her first act of rebellion with Natasha as her mother, so she made sure to cover all her tracks. She went through her normal routine that morning, but claimed to be leaving a little earlier than normal so she could study for a test.

She didn't technically lie. She _did_ have a science test that she needed to study for, and if she wasn't about to sneak on a quinjet to Vienna, then she more than likely would've gone to school early.

Just as an extra precaution, before she finished packing her bag, she called the school and informed them that she would be out for a couple of days, because she had a cold. This would prevent them from calling Natasha and giving her the information too soon.

She even refrained from telling Peter about what she was doing, for fear that he would let it slip somehow. Besides keeping the fact that he was Spiderman a secret, Peter really couldn't be trusted to keep his mouth shut on most days.

Lainey made sure that she had absolutely everything she needed before securing the black beanie on her head (she dressed in all black, thinking that she wouldn't be seen), before sneaking up to the rooftop and onto the quinjet that Natasha would be on in a few minutes.

Despite knowing that everything she was doing was wrong, Lainey felt like she had accomplished a great deal. It was obvious that she wasn't going to get away with this, but that wasn't her goal. Her goal was to satisfy her curiosity and make sure that her mother would be okay.

As soon as she grew accustomed to her surroundings, she heard footsteps, prompting her to hide behind some cases of weapons in a corner. These next few hours were going to be crucial. If she got caught anywhere between now and before they crossed the ocean, Natasha might turn around and take her home. The preteen worked way too hard to be sent home now.

"Tell Lainey that if she wants to hang out with her friends after school, she can." Natasha told Tony, getting ready to board the quinjet. She didn't want Lainey cooped up inside just because she wasn't there. She needed to be a kid. "And take care of yourself, you're doing the right thing. We need to fix our mistakes. I'll check in once I land."

"Well, I won't be waiting." Tony smirked. "Don't drop out of the sky on your way there. It's going to be too hard to find a suitable replacement for you."

"Oh shut up." The redhead rolled her eyes as the hanger door closed.

* * *

Lainey hadn't even realized that she fell asleep until her eyes fluttered open.

The quinjet had landed a few minuted earlier and as promised, Natasha took out her phone to call Tony.

Imagine her surprise when she saw about ten text messages saying that Lainey was missing and she had never gone to school.

Now Natasha was no idiot. She had a strong feeling that she knew exactly where Lainey was. But she wasn't going to physically remove her from her hiding spot. If Lainey insisted on giving heart attacks to the people who cared about her, then she was going to have a little fun of her own. So she texted Tony and told him to play along with her little scheme.

"Hello? Tony? Yeah, I know. I got your text. I know she's missing...…." Natasha made her eyes water and her voice waver. She knew that she could trick Lainey into giving herself away by playing off of her empathy. "What if someone has her? What if they hurt her and I can't do anything to save her? She's just a kid!"

Lainey sighed, listening to the Russian panic that way. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea. She didn't like the way she was making her cry all because she had snuck off to do something she wasn't supposed to. It wasn't fair to her.

"Tony, please find her? She's been through so much and now this?" Natasha allowed a sob to escape her throat, knowing that would make Lainey feel horrible.

"Mama, I'm not missing. I'm right here." The twelve year old crawled out from being the large cases.

Natasha looked at her with a red and blotchy face, before turning her attention back to her phone.

"Thank you Tony. I'll talk to you later."

And it was in that moment, that Lainey knew she was in trouble.

When Natasha turned back towards her, not one tear was evident on her face.

"Explain." The redhead beckoned Lainey to stand in front of her.

As Lainey took a close look at her, she noticed that her eyes were narrow and her nose was flared. Not to mention, that the vein in her neck was throbbing.

"Alayna Anuva Taylor. Explain." Natasha growled, using one of the thousands of made up names she had thought of because Lainey didn't actually have a middle name.

"Well…..." She suddenly found her black converse very interesting.

They were filthy. Tony had offered to buy her new ones on several occasions, but she always refused. This pair of converse had been through a lot with her and she wasn't about to give them up now. Besides, these were comfortable. It was too much work to break another pair of shoes in. Even if they _were_ practically falling apart.

"Alayna?" Natasha cocked an eyebrow.

"Before I say anything!" Lainey put both her hands out in front of her, as if to keep Natasha from advancing. "I just want to let you know that this was really thought out and I knew exactly what I was getting myself into and I don't regret anything."

"I'll keep that in mind. Explain."

"Okay…...When you told me you had to leave, I wanted to go with you, but after you said that you didn't want me to miss any more school, I didn't bother asking you if I could come."

"So you decided to stow away with me, continue." Natasha nodded as if she was mentally taking notes.

"I knew that if I skipped, the school would call you and Tony...…so I called and I told them that I would be out for a few days and I promise that if I knew you and Tony were going to worry, I would have left a note in his lab or something. I know you're mad, but I had to and I'm not sorry."

Lainey realized that she probably shouldn't have said that she wasn't sorry so soon. She had just admitted to lying and skipping school. It wasn't in favor to express how unapologetic she was.

"Are you going to send me back?" She asked timidly.

"It's too late to send you back now." Natasha eyed her with what looked like disappointment. "But we're going to have a long talk later."

Maybe she should've stayed home.

* * *

"Did you pack clothes in that bag?" Natasha questioned her daughter, throwing her bag on one of the hotel beds.

After Lainey's confession on the quinjet, the two made their way to a hotel in London and checked in. The walk to the room had been painfully silent. The twelve year old wanted so desperately to say something and have a conversation to kill the agonizingly thick tension, but she feared that it would only make the redhead angrier.

"Yes."

"Did you bring something formal to wear?"

When Lainey nodded, Natasha narrowed her eyes in disbelief, prompting the girl to dig in her bag and pull out a dress.

"Put it on. I'm leaving five minutes, with or without you."

Lainey's eyes widened at her gruff statement, but still made her way to the bathroom and changed with two minutes to spare.

She didn't like the feeling of having to walk on eggshells around Natasha. She was her safe place. Allison used to ignore her from time to time too, only speaking to her when necessary and leaving her to figure things out on her own. It was awful. She actually preferred it when the woman was beating up on her, because that way, she knew exactly how she felt.

"Please don't ignore me?" She pleaded softly when Natasha glanced at her and made her way to the door. "You can hit me if it'll make you feel better, but please don't ignore me Mama?"

The former KGB agent sighed and turned around.

She didn't think she had been ignoring the young girl. It had never been her intention. All she wanted was for Lainey to have some time to really think about the dangers of what she had done.

But leaving a person alone with their own thoughts was never a good idea.

"I don't have anything you can use, but I'm sure the hotel has a hanger or something...…." The child looked around, breaking Natasha's heart.

"Alayna…..." Her voice just above a whisper. "Stop it honey."

The preteen had said it so casually, that it really concerned her.

"Why? What for? I thought I did something wrong."

Natasha sat down on a bed and beckoned Lainey over, only bothering to speak when the brunette was where she wanted her. "You did do something wrong, but let me make myself abundantly clear when I say that I would _never_ hurt you."

"But it isn't like you'd be punching me, or smashing a bottle over my head or anything!" Lainey argued, really not grasping why she was so wrong.

Weren't parents supposed to hit their children to correct them? She knew her mother had gone too far in trying to discipline her, but what other way was there?

"Dammit baby, don't you see? It's all the same! Abuse is abuse!" Natasha reached for her hands and rubbed her thumbs along the back of them. "It doesn't matter if it's with a bat, or a bottle, or someone's hands. It's still wrong. No one should hit you _ever_."

"Not even you?" Lainey tilted her head.

" _Especially_ not me. I'm here to love you and keep you safe. So please, don't ever suggest something like that to me again."

"Okay, can we go now?"

Natasha allowed some of her tears to fall, before pulling her into her arms, squeezing her tightly. She wondered what other kinds of things Lainey thought was okay because of her upbringing. Maybe once they got back to New York, she would take her to see a psychologist. It could only help them both understand what was lying deep in Lainey's mind.

"Yeah, we can go now." She ran a hand over her face, standing on her own two feet.

"Where are we going?" Lainey asked as they made their way out of the room and down the stairs and out of the hotel.

She knew that there was a UN conference in Vienna, but she hadn't the slightest idea why they were in London.

"The founder of S.H.I.E.L.D., Margaret Carter passed away. She was a close friend of Steve's from the forties."

"Are we going to her funeral?" Lainey asked as she childishly latched onto Natasha's hand and hopped over the cracks in the sidewalks, the conversation of abuse long forgotten.

"Just to see Steve."

"So he knows he's not alone?"

"Exactly." Natasha tugged on the girl's arm to keep her from getting hit by a car while they crossed the street. "Watch where you're going honey."

"You'll catch me." The curly-headed kid replied confidently, hopping over a puddle. "I'll be okay. Why don't people wear bright colors to funerals?"

The question had been raised due to the fact that the people surrounding the church were decked out in all black, hugging and crying with each other.

"They're mourning together."

"Well I know that, but why don't they celebrate her life too?" She had never lost anyone, so she never truly grasped the reason why people were always only sad at funerals.

"They will in time. Right now, they're sad because she won't be here anymore."

"Oh." Lainey nodded, taking everything in as they entered the building.

It was beautiful, the ceilings were high, the pews were wooden, just like the floors, and there were flowers all around. It looked as if they had arrived just after the service concluded. There was no one inside except for Steve, and he was standing in front of the alter, staring at a picture of Agent Carter.

She was so pretty. Even in her picture she looked strong, demanding respect from everyone around her. It was as if the picture radiated her authority.

"When I came out of the ice, I thought everyone I had known was gone. Then I found out that she was alive. I was just lucky to have her." Steve didn't bother turning around to face the two.

"She had you back too."

There was a pregnant pause between them as they both tried to figure out how to address the elephant in the room.

"Who signed?" Steve asked gently, tired of beating around the bush.

"Tony, Rhodey, Vision."

'Clint?"

"Says he's retired."

Lainey wanted to meet this, "Clint". She had never really asked Natasha if she could, but now that she knew that he was retired, she just might. After all, he is Natasha's best friend. She had heard a lot of stories about him and she wanted to know exactly what he was like in real life.

"Wanda?"

"TBD." Natasha smiled. "I'm off to Vienna for the signing of the Accords. There's plenty of room on the jet. After all, this little one managed to sneak on without me knowing."

Lainey frowned at being outed, but she supposed that's what she got for doing the wrong thing.

"Oh?" Steve raised an eyebrow and looked down at her.

She hated it when he did that. It made her want to admit to every rotten thing she's ever done.

"It's all handled, but you can lecture her later." Natasha joked before becoming very serious. "Just because it's the path of least resistance, doesn't mean it's the wrong path. Staying together is more important than how we stay together."

As much as she hated to admit it. She really wanted this makeshift family to stay together and have each other's backs. Families were hard to come by, she learned that the hard way, but she was given this one. She didn't want to give it up so soon.

"I'm sorry Nat, I can't sign."

"I know."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"We didn't want you to be alone." Lainey piped up before her mother could answer. "Nobody should be alone."

Everyone had made a conscious effort to make sure that she knew that she wasn't alone. Now she wanted to return the favor in anyway she could.

When Steve smiled at Lainey and looked at Natasha, she nodded and shrugged her shoulders. "Listen to the kid, she knows what she's talking about."

Steve teared up and pulled the both of them in for a hug that they all truly needed. They basked in the comfort for a moment before pulling away and looking at each other longingly.

"Stay safe, okay?" Natasha spoke gently.

She knew all about the soldier's tendency to run head first into danger without any regard for himself.

"You too." Steve turned to Lainey."And you, no more running off, understand? I don't want to have to come and find you. And listen to your mother."

"Yessir." Lainey cheekily saluted before she was pulled into another hug.

She didn't ever want to let go. She wanted him and all the Avengers to hold onto her forever if it meant that nothing would ever change.

But change was a part of life.

It was inevitable.

* * *

The UN was a large building. Lainey had seen the one in New York, and that one was gorgeous, but this one outdid itself.

It was large high-rise building with glass windows all round so if anyone wanted a lovely view of the Viennese streets below, all they had to do was look.

There were so many reporters and people from different countries around, Lainey didn't know what to do with herself. She knew she wasn't supposed to be there and it made her feel nervous and out of place. Everyone seemed to know exactly what to do and where to sit.

"At a special United Nations conference 117 countries have come together to ratify the Sokovia Accords." A news anchor spoke.

A UN staffer made his way over to both her and Natasha, holding a pen and a page that probably needed signing. "Excuse me, Ms. Romanoff?"

"Yes?" She softened her features as not to intimidate him.

"These need your signature." He held the pen and paper out to her, clearly grateful when she complied before he walked off. "Thank you."

"I suppose neither of us is used to the spotlight." A man wearing a traditional black suit addressed Natasha, with an accent Lainey could exactly pinpoint. She knew it was African, but an African accent from where? She didn't know.

Lainey had no idea who he was and quite frankly, he was a little intimidating, so she moved behind her mother and peeked out at him.

All the man did was smile fondly and wink at her.

"Oh, well, it's not always flattering."

"You seem to be doing alright so far. Considering your last trip to Capitol Hill…...I wouldn't think you would be particularly comfortable in this company."

"Well, I'm not." Natasha admitted.

"That alone makes me glad you are here Ms. Romanoff."

"Why?" Natasha cocked her head to the side for a moment. "You don't approve of all this?"

"The Accords, yes. The politics, not really. Two people in a room can get more done than a hundred."

Well, whoever he was, he was intelligent.

"Unless you need to move a piano." Another man with the same accent made his way over.

He was stout and very friendly looking. He must've been the man's father, but Lainey didn't want to assume anything.

"Father."

So she was right!

"Son. Ms. Romanoff."

"King T'Chaka. Please, allow me to apologize for what happened in Nigeria." Natasha bowed her head respectfully.

So that's who they were! The King and Prince of Wakanda! Lainey had heard of them, but she had never actually seen them. It was cool to be this close, but she still wanted to stay behind Natasha, just in case.

"Thank you. Thank you for agreeing to all this. I'm sad to hear that Captain Rogers will not be joining us today, but who's this?" The King looked at Lainey with a kind smile that made her want to trust him.

"Yes, so am I." Natasha pulled Lainey out from behind her and threw an arm over her shoulders. To which Lainey wrapped her arms around her waist. "This is my daughter, Alayna. She's a little shy. Say, hello to them honey."

Lainey looked up at Natasha before looking back at the two men, burying her face in her mother's blazer. Sure, it was infantile, but the amount of bashfulness Lainey had been feeling right then and there was outrageous.

"They won't hurt you honey." Natasha remained patient. "Say hello."

Lainey slowly moved her head to look at them and found that they were still smiling. "Hello."

"Hello Ms. Alayna." The prince took her hand and kissed it, making her blush. "I am T'Challa, it is an honor to meet you. You must visit Wakanda one day, my sister would love to meet you."

Lainey actually couldn't fight the smile that broke out on her face.

"I am King T'Chaka child. As my son said, it is very nice to meet you. I hope you will not be too bored listening to an old man speak." The King pressed another kiss to the back of Lainey's hand, making her bury her face in its previous hiding spot.

"Thank you." Natasha mouthed to the both of them. They did more than they knew.

"If everyone could please be seated. This assembly is now in session."

"That is the future calling. Such a pleasure." King T'Chaka smiled, before Natasha and Lainey found their seats.

Lainey watched as everyone took a seat in order to listen to what was going to be said. She wanted to comment on what she saw, but she didn't want to screw up and say the wrong thing.

'When stolen Wakandan vibranium was used to make a terrible weapon, we in Wakanda were forced to question our legacy. Those men and women killed in Nigeria, were part of a goodwill mission from a country too long in the shadows. We will not, however, let misfortune drive us back. We will fight to improve the world we wish to join. I am grateful to the Avengers for supporting this initiative." King T'Chaka addressed everyone with a smile. "Wakanda is proud to extend its hand in peace."

Lainey wasn't really listening to what he was saying. She was watching T'Challa as he looked out the window.

He seemed tense, like he had seen something outside that was suspicious.

Lainey tugged on Natasha's arm to get her to look, but the woman was already well aware of the situation. She pulled Lainey close to her so quickly, the girl fell to floor beneath her.

"Everybody get down!" T'Challa screamed with the utmost amount of urgency in his voice, leaping towards his father.

It all happened so quickly, but to Lainey, the seconds ticked by so slowly.

Everyone screamed and ducked for cover in any way that they could. Natasha pulled a reporter down before throwing herself over her daughter, cradling her head to keep her calm before an explosion shook the entire building to its core.

When the shaking stopped, Lainey opened her eyes (she didn't even remember closing them) to see a cloud of smoke and a load of debris everywhere. Her ears were ringing from the explosion, but there nothing wrong with her eyesight. When she looked around the room, she saw that T'Challa didn't reach his father in time.

The elder man was lying in the midst of the rubble and broken glass, completely still. His broken and distraught son gathered him up in his arms and cried over him, living his own personal nightmare.

His father was gone.

"Sweetheart, are you alright?" Lainey heard her mother ask her once the ringing stopped.

Lainey could only nod, her eyes still glued to the two monarchs of Wakanda. She felt helpless. There was nothing she could do to help them, and there was nothing she could do to comfort him.

"Don't look honey." Natasha held her chin and forced her gaze to leave T'Challa and focus on her. "Are you hurt?"

She was sincerely hoping that this wasn't going to scar Lainey for life. The poor girl had been through enough. She knew that physically speaking, she was fine, but her lack of response was what was concerning her.

"No." Lainey coughed. "You have ashes on your face Mama, did you get hurt?"

"No." Natasha sighed in relief. "But we need to get out of here. The building isn't safe." She stood up and pulled Lainey with her.

They could hear all the police and fire sirens down below. The very sound of them, made the situation that much more real for Lainey. Just last week she was going to school like a normal kid.

Today, she was rushing out of the UN after it had been bombed.

Life was scary.

Natasha only allowed Lainey to slow down and sit once they were far enough away from the UN and everything around it.

She pushed the girl to sit on a bench, finally able to give the girl a complete once over. She was covered in ash and she looked tired, but she'd be fine.

"I told you I wasn't hurt." Lainey sent her a pointed look and glanced down at her shoes.

They were flapping at the bottom. Now she had no choice but to get new ones, but she wondered if her powers could fix them.

Probably not.

"We'll get you some new ones soon." The redhead's eyes travelled to the shoes and she stifled a smile.

She was relieved that the worst that happened to the kid was just a pair of worn out sneakers. It could've been a lot worse. The shoes were replaceable, Lainey however, was not.

"All I have to do is tape them, they're not done yet!" Lainey insisted. The kid really didn't want to give up these shoes.

"I think they've been done for a while now honey." Natasha brushed a curl away from Lainey's face. "It's time to get rid of them. I'll get you any pair of shoes you want."

Lainey needed a lot more than a pair of shoes. Those converse were the only shoes she owned. Natasha definitely planned on going on a shopping spree when this was over.

Though she didn't know how long that would be.

The UN was just _bombed_. That wasn't going to just blow over any time soon. Especially not when the King of Wakanda had been killed.

Speaking of the King, through all the commotion, his son had weaved his way through the police and first responders, sitting on a bench near Natasha and Lainey.

He looked absolutely exhausted, with grief written all over his face. His posture was slouched and his eyes were glazed over. But in his daze, Lainey noticed that he was fiddling with a ring that was too big for his finger.

"I'm very sorry." Natasha gave her condolences. She knew it wouldn't help much, but she had to say something.

"In my culture." T'Challa began. "Death is not the end. It's a sort of…...stepping off point. Your reach out with both hands and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green veldt where you can run forever."

"That sounds peaceful." Natasha once again tried to comfort him.

"My father thought so." The Prince, soon to be king, took a deep breath before rising to his feet. "I am not my father."

"T'Challa, task force will decide who brings in Barnes." The Russian informed him, sensing what was running through his mind. She knew from personal experience that revenge wasn't going to help him feel better about his father's death. It wouldn't even relieve the pain. It would just leave a bigger whole in his heart that would never be filled.

"Don't bother Ms. Romanoff." His face hardening with anger. "I'll kill him myself.

Natasha watched as he walked away, deciding not to go after him. He was a grown man, he could make his own decisions. Hopefully he would come to see that revenge isn't what it's cracked up to be.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the ringing of her phone.

It was Steve.

He must've seen what had happened on the news and was checking in to see if she and Lainey were alright.

"Hello?" She answered, looking behind her to make sure that Lainey hadn't wandered off.

"Are you guys alright?" His baritone voice reverberated through her ear.

"Yeah, we're fine. We got lucky."

There was a moment of silence on both ends of the line. They both knew where this was headed and they didn't quite know how to move forward with it.

"Alayna." She grabbed the preteen's attention as she stood up. "Don't move, you understand me?" Her tone of voice clearly left no room for anything but a positive response.

"Yes Mama."

"Good. I'll be right back." The older woman made sure that Lainey really wasn't going to move before moving out of earshot. She hadn't meant to be so stern, but she didn't need the kid to go missing at a time like this. Everything was crumbling to pieces and if she could prevent one tragedy, it would help her sleep easier at night.

Lainey watched her go, a little put out by the way she was just spoken to. Had she done something wrong? Maybe Natasha was still upset at her for sneaking onto the quinjet. Maybe she should apologize to her and explain why she did what she did. It might not work, but it was better than doing nothing.

A soft object rubbed up against her leg, completely interrupting her train of thought. When Lainey looked down to see what had invaded her personal space, she found a black kitten.

It was beautiful. It had the darkest fur she had ever seen on an animal and the most vibrant green eyes. It seemed to be a little malnourished, but healthy enough to be seeking help from a human being.

"Hi." Lainey slid off of the bench and onto the floor to pet it. "Where's your Mama? Are you alone? You look like you're alone." She looked around for a larger cat, but didn't find one.

The kitten looked up at her expectantly, purring when she scratched behind its ears, and Lainey couldn't help but want to take it home with her.

What was stopping her? All she had to do was hide it long enough to get back to the Compound. Nobody would ever know!

"I guess you don't have a Mama…...That's okay. I didn't have a good one before…...so it's kind of like I didn't have one at all, but then she came along." The twelve year old pointed at Natasha, who was still on the phone. "And she adopted me…...She's the best mother in the whole wide world and I'm very lucky that she took me in."

The kitten seemed to understand exactly what Lainey was saying and crawled onto her lap to cuddle. Its whiskers tickled Lainey's fingertips as she continued to pet and scratch it. The vibration of its purring made Lainey smile as she continued to speak to the animal.

"How about I take you home with me?' She asked, certainly not expecting an answer. "You don't have anywhere to go and I can take care of you. When you can take care of yourself, you can decide whether you want to stay or not. I won't force you."

And to her surprise, the kitten meowed in response.

"I guess that settles it then. But you have to be really quiet. Mama doesn't know about you just yet, okay?" Laney grinned and took off the denim jacket she was wearing, wrapping the feline in it to make it look like it wasn't there, before sitting back up on the bench.

It was perfect timing too, because as soon as she sat down, Natasha had ended the phone call and started to make her way back to her daughter.

"Why did you take your jacket off?" She asked the child.

It was almost sixty degrees in Vienna and this kid had taken off her jacket. Natasha just couldn't wrap her head around that.

"I got hot." Lainey lied, holding her jacket closer to her. "Honestly Mama."

Ever since Natasha had let her know that she didn't mind it when she called her, "Mama", Lainey had freely used the moniker. The redhead would be a liar if she said that hearing it didn't make her want to jump, smile, and burst into tears all at the same time.

But that didn't mean she was going to turn a blind eye to the fact that the kid was clearly lying to her face.

"Oh really?" Natasha crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow.

It had become her signature "Mom" look. Lainey learned very quickly that whenever she saw that look, she'd better do what she was told or say what she was supposed to say before the situation escalated.

"So you're not hiding anything from me?"

Lainey couldn't bring herself to lie again, but she also didn't want to tell the truth, so she lowered her gaze down to her shoes.

"Alayna Anuva?" Natasha knelt down in front of her and unraveled the jacket, revealing the kitten. "So you weren't hiding anything from me, huh?"

Lainey didn't really know how to respond, so she just shrugged her shoulders, trying not to shiver as a cold breeze blew in their direction. She didn't mean to lie, but she didn't want to leave the kitten to starve and die alone.

The baby animal was completely occupied in Natasha's arms, playing with her bright red hair. It probably thought it was better than yarn. It couldn't care less about what was going on around it.

"So what's her name?" She asked suddenly, having already checked the cat's gender.

"I can keep her?" Lainey lit up like the lights on the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. "Really?"

"Yes, you can keep her." Natasha smiled when her daughter's smile grew wider. "But you have to take care of her. It's going to be a lot of work, can you do it?"

"Yes! You won't even know she's here!" Yeah, right.

"And you have to be completely honest with me from now on. You don't have to be afraid to tell me the truth…...I'd like to know why you snuck onto the quinjet."

"I don't know." Petite shoulders rose and fell while slender hands rubbed an itchy nose. "I just got you...…I didn't want you to go away."

"Honey, you know nothing's going to happen to me, right? I'll always come home to you."

"You don't know that." Lainey shook her head. "What if you get hurt? Or what if someone kidnaps you? Your job isn't safe and you have a lot of enemies."

A pained look crossed Natasha's face as she thought about just how much Lainey worried about her. Her line of work _was_ dangerous and she _did_ have a lot of enemies. Those were legitimate concerns. She realized that she couldn't promise Lainey that she would always come back to her. Not while she was still working in the field.

So she had a decision to make. Either continue to do her job and take the risk, or quit.

"I'm sorry you worry so much honey." She brushed her hand against Lainey's cheek. "I didn't realize."

"It's okay, you're just doing your job.'

"No." Red hair flew while Natasha shook her head. "You're my first priority. Which is why, when all of this is over, I'm going to find another job. One that's closer to home and not as dangerous."

"But you love what you do!" Lainey's jaw dropped.

"I love you _so_ much more." Natasha cupped her chin. "Now, let's go get you some new shoes."

* * *

 **A/N: I'm back! I've had this chapter sitting in here for a while, because I didn't really think it was good enough to post, but I couldn't bring myself to change anything. I hope you enjoyed! So now Lainey has a kitten and the king is dead. Things can't get any worse, can they? We'll find out, won't we? XOXOXOXO**


	14. Chapter 14

_"It's okay, you're just doing your job.'_

 _"No." Red hair flew while Natasha shook her head. "You're my first priority. Which is why, when all of this is over, I'm going to find another job. One that's closer to home and not as dangerous."_

 _"But you love what you do!" Lainey's jaw dropped._

 _"I love you so much more." Natasha cupped her chin. "Now, let's go get you some new shoes."_

 **Chapter Fourteen: Nothing's Gonna Harm You, Not while I'm Around**

Lainey's new shoes knocked against each other as she sat in her usual seat on the quinjet.

Apparently Steve and Sam made a big mess in Berlin. Natasha wouldn't tell her all the details, but all Lainey got was they stopped the government from doing their jobs and got themselves arrested.

Natasha had been called in to help clean up the mess, but first, she was dropping Lainey off with a trusted friend. She wouldn't tell Lainey who it was, so the girl was practically vibrating with excitement.

The cat in her lap clearly did not appreciate the way she was squirming, and gracefully hopped off of her and leapt right onto Natasha's lap, much to her displeasure.

"We are not friends Little One. Go right back to where you came from and leave me alone." She raised an eyebrow at the feline.

But when the cat didn't move, she sighed and let it be. "Have you decided on a name yet Lainey?"

"No. I can't think of one…...I was gonna name her Liho, but that's scary."

Natasha had recently told her the story of Liho and she may or may not have told her that the old woman would come and get her if she ever went somewhere without telling her again.

It was a joke, but Lainey didn't find it funny at all. The story had scared the daylights out of her and she didn't want to take her chances with the old woman, so she vowed never to go anywhere without letting someone know.

Or at least try.

"How about, _озорство_? It means mischief in Russian. Since you found that thing, it's been getting into nothing but mischief."

It was true. So far, the kitten had gotten into Lainey's clothes and tried to tear them up, pounced all over Natasha, and untied both of their shoes several times.

"She's only a baby. She doesn't know any better." Lainey cuddled the animal, bringing her to her chest. If it were up to her, that cat would get away with everything. Luckily for Natasha, it _wasn't_ up to her. "But I like the name. It fits…...Where are we going?"

"We're going to a friend's house." Natasha replied, taking the quinjet off of autopilot to man the vessel herself. "It's safe there."

Safe? Why did they need to go somewhere safe? Were they in danger? Was someone looking for them? Was someone going to take her away from Natasha? Lainey's mind didn't need much convincing in order to run wild as her thoughts got all jumbled up in her brain.

"You don't have to worry. Do you trust me?" Natasha asked, sensing her daughter's anxiety.

"Yes." The twelve year old responded without a hint of hesitation.

Of course she trusted Natasha. She was the one who got her out of a dangerous situation and treated her with nothing but kindness. She showed her exactly how she should be treated and how a mother loves her child.

How could she not trust her?

"But I still wanna know where we're going." Her curiosity was already peaked.

"You're going to have to wait and find out." Natasha couldn't help but smirk. The kid's excitement was infectious, but she still wasn't going to give her what she wanted. Patience is a virtue.

"Mamaaaaaaa?" Lainey whined, crossing her arms while a pout graced her face. "I want to know nowwwwww."

As annoying and unbecoming the whining was, Natasha was really glad that Lainey was starting to feel comfortable enough to express her displeasure. She'd rather hear her whining than have her flinching every time she so much as made a face of disgust. She was slowly getting over the trauma she had been carrying around. Not all, but some.

That didn't mean she had tolerate it.

"Lainey." Natasha switched the quinjet onto autopilot and made her way over to where the girl was sitting. "Relax. You'll find out when we get there."

Lainey huffed and rolled her eyes, before continuing to play with her kitten. Why wouldn't Natasha just tell her where they were going? Was it cool? Was it Hawaii, or Ohio?

How was she supposed to relax if she didn't know where they were headed?

Why was her mother torturing her?

"If you keep rolling your eyes at me like that, you'll lose your ice cream privileges." Natasha sat down next to her. "No ice cream for a week."

Lainey gasped, obviously horrified by the fact that the redhead would even suggest such a thing. She'd rather be grounded than have her favorite treat taken away from her. Although, she had never actually been grounded.

But she was sure that it had to be a better punishment than losing ice cream privileges.

"No!" She threw her arms around the woman's neck and kissed her cheek to butter her up. "I need ice cream!"

"You're so overdramatic, you know that?" Natasha scoffed. "Maybe I should just take it away from you altogether to show you that you don't actually need it, you just think you do."

Alright, fine. If she wanted to play dirty, then so could Lainey. The twelve year old sniffled and rubbed her eyes with her fist to promote tear production before giving her mother a pitiful look.

Her bottom lip stuck out in a pout, her eyes were big and sad, and she managed to make her chin tremble.

This was some master manipulation. Beginners couldn't manage this kind of stuff.

"Oh you poor baby." The Russian pouted with her, much to her chagrin. "You need your ice cream and Mama's upsetting you. You poor thing."

Lainey squirmed as Natasha lifted her up and cradled her like a toddler.

This was definitely _not_ what she was going for. She wanted Natasha to feel bad enough to forget about ever trying to revoke her ice cream privileges. Ice cream is not a want, it's a need. She couldn't understand why adults couldn't see that.

"I know. I know. Mama's so mean to you. What ever will you do? You poor thing." The older woman clicked her tongue. "This is awful."

"Put me down!" Lainey continued to struggle while Natasha pretended to be oblivious to her annoyance. "I'm not a baby! I'm grown! I'm an adult!"

"And you're so tired, aren't you? You're exhausted, just fighting off your inevitable slumber."

Okay, so Lainey _was_ tired. There was no denying it.

But that's besides the point! Natasha didn't need to know that!

"Come, let's sit together." She sat down with the preteen in her arms and rocked back and forth.

Something that Lainey just _knew_ she was too old for...…though she didn't really know. She couldn't remember a time where Allison had actually rocked her to sleep...…or anything actually.

And despite the fact that Lainey really _really_ wanted to fight this, it felt good.

Eventually she became so relaxed that her eyes had no choice but to flutter shut as she fell into a peaceful sleep.

She'd get her revenge later. Right now, sleep was more important.

* * *

The sound of birds chirping is what woke Lainey up from her much needed nap.

She opened her eyes and looked around to study her surroundings.

This definitely wasn't home. There was no traffic outside and there were no cars honking at people who were in their way. There were no sirens blaring as a cop car or firetruck raced by.

Lainey immediately crawled out of the bed she had been resting in and left the room as quietly as possible. She knew she was in a stranger's house and she had no idea where her mother was. She could have been kidnapped and drugged for all she knew.

She tiptoed into the hallway and stopped at the top of the stairs once she heard voices. There were two she couldn't place, but she knew Natasha's voice anywhere.

"All problems aside, how are you guys doing here?" She heard her ask.

She sounded calm, so that was a good sign.

Maybe she was overreacting.

"It's not nice to eavesdrop." The male voice spoke so fluidly, it took a moment for Lainey to realize that he was talking about her. "You can come out now kid."

The brunette gingerly made her way down the steps, refusing to meet anyone's eyes as she reached the bottom.

She felt three pairs of eyes staring at her, which by the way, made her feel very uncomfortable, so much so, that after a few agonizing seconds of standing there, she ran over to her mother and sat on her lap.

"Well, since she's awake, you might as well introduce yourselves." Natasha broke the ice.

"Hi Honey." The man spoke. She liked the way he called her that. It made her feel cozy. "I'm Clint, an old friend of your mother's. This is my wife, Laura." He smiled at the woman next to him.

"You're Hawkeye." Lainey shyly observed.

Clint smiled and nodded. "Sometimes."

"And this Little Miss, is Lainey, who should be asleep." Natasha joked and poked her side.

She knew waking up in a foreign place wasn't very pleasant. To be frank, she never planned on that happening to Lainey. She just wanted to have a quick conversation with Clint and Laura before turning in herself, but she failed to remember that sometimes Lainey was a very light sleeper.

It would serve her well one day.

"Since you're down here, I should tell you that I have to leave tomorrow morning." The Russian watched her daughter's facial expression change. "I'll be back, I promise you, but there's something that I need to take care of first."

"Nooooo." Lainey whined softly, trying to keep her voice down. "You have to stay here."

"Sweetheart, it's part of my job. I have to go."

"No you don't." Lainey shook her head, fighting back tears.

She had worked so hard to stay with Natasha, she couldn't give up now. What if something happened to her and she never saw her again? How could she be so calm about leaving? Why was she leaving her with people she didn't even know?

"Sweetheart, look at me."

"Noooo." Lainey sniffled and tried to get up.

Where she would go, she didn't know, but it was better than staying there and listening to this,

"Look at me Alayna." The redhead took her chin in her hand and forced her to meet her eyes. "You know I don't want to leave, but I have to do my job. Once everything is taken care of, I promise you that I'll come back and we'll do whatever you want."

"…...Can we go to Switzerland?" Lainey slightly perked up at the offer and wiped her nose on her sleeve. "And DisneyWorld?"

"Wherever you want to go honey." Natasha nodded. "I'll be back as soon as I can, but in the meantime, I need you to behave for Clint and Laura, alright?"

"Okay."

"That means, no running off to follow me this time." She clarified. "I mean it Alayna, I let you off easy this time, don't let it happen again."

"I'll stay here. I promise."

"Thank you. You're making my job easier. I can do it a lot faster if I'm not worrying about where you are or whether or not you're safe. So thank you."

Unfortunately for Lainey, the next morning came around in record speed and it was time for Natasha to board the quinjet and leave.

As calm as Lainey made herself out to be the night before, she broke her resolve and fell right into hysterics when her mother announced her departure. Just because she was twelve years old, didn't mean she wouldn't get overemotional in situations like this.

It was hard not to.

She was practically in shambles as she tried her best to keep a tight grip on her mother while Clint pulled her away. She knew that he didn't mean her any harm, but she couldn't help but kick at him and scream at the top of her lungs. Maybe if they saw how upset this was making her, they would just let her go along.

"Stop it Alayna." Natasha spoke so sternly that it startled her into keeping still. "I'm leaving and that's that. Would you like to say goodbye to me, or would you like me to take off with you kicking and screaming? Either way, I have to go. I'm not going to stand here and watch you carry on like this."

Lainey hiccuped and wiggled away from Clint, who let go of her when Natasha gave him the okay.

"Wipe those tears off your face please. There's no reason to cry, I'll be back before you know it."

Lainey did as she was told and let Natasha pull her in for a big hug before pulling away.

"Be good." This was harder than she thought it was going to be. She planned to be so calm about this and here she was, trying to latch onto her mother like a toddler with separation anxiety.

How pathetic.

"Take care of yourself Nat." Clint winked, making her roll her eyes. "I wouldn't want to have to come and save you again."

"Oh grow up." The redhead bit back.

"Enough you two." Laura scolded lightly, stroking Lainey's hair to keep her calm. "You'd better not do anything stupid Natasha."

"You jump out of a burning plane once and suddenly, you're reckless." Natasha threw her hands up and boarded the quinjet with a final wave.

And it wasn't until the jet was out of sight that Lainey burst into another set of silent tears.

She should've stayed home with Tony.

"So!" Laura clapped her hands together. "What would you like to do? We have some time to kill before the kids get back from their grandparent's. Cooper is around your age, Lila is seven, and Nate is almost two."

All Lainey could manage to do was give the woman a blank look and shrug. She didn't want to do anything.

She knew she was being kind of rude, but how was she supposed to feel?

"Come on kid, I'm not letting you wallow in self-pity the entire time that you're here." Clint got her attention. "Put your kitten down and follow me."

Lainey looked at _озорство_ and back at Clint before shaking her head, holding the animal closer to her.

"Okay." Clint smirked and lifted the two up, despite the child's protests, and made his way to the barn.

Even though they weren't by any means related, Clint could already see the striking similarities between her and Natasha.

They were both exasperatingly stubborn. When they set their minds to something, there's no changing them. But more than that, they both were wary of trusting the people around them even if they had good intentions.

He couldn't blame either of them. Natasha grew up in the Red Room and was brainwashed into becoming a cold-blooded assassin. It took her _years_ to deprogram herself from those ways of life. When Clint finally got to her, she went through phases of being okay, to reverting back to her old self. It was an uphill battle, but the results were priceless. He had gained a best friend and sister. Someone he could talk to and cry with at any time of day. Someone who he trusted to have his back no matter what.

He had heard about what happened in Lainey's life before Natasha adopted her. He couldn't blame her for not wanting to trust anyone that claimed to be a friend. His childhood had been a little similar to hers. Of course his parents hadn't been using him for Hydra's gain, but his father was very abusive towards him, his brother, and his mother. He hated thinking about it, but every time he saw Lainey's face, her eyes mirrored the buried pain in his own.

They both carried a load of trauma that would be easier to bear on some days, and harder to bear the next.

"Why are we here?" Lainey asked him, relaxing a little once she realized that he hasn't hurt her yet.

But she couldn't let her guard down.

"We're here to talk." Clint responded, sitting down with her still in his arms. "No one here is going to hurt you honey."

"Are you sure?" Lainey looked at him with doe eyes. "Cause sometimes I aggravate people and they hit me…...it's okay though. They can't help it. Sometimes I deserve it."

"No." Clint said firmly, not leaving room for any arguments. "That type of behavior is never okay and you have never and will never deserve it. Do you understand me?"

"Uh huh." Lainey nodded, unconvincingly. She had been hurt too many times to swallow that garbage again.

Everyone always ended up hurting her, it was just a matter of time.

"Come on." Clint set her kitten on the floor and stood up, grabbing his bow and some arrows.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm teaching you how to shoot." Clint shrugged nonchalantly.

He knew that Natasha would probably kill him for teaching her how to use a weapon, but they had to bond somehow. Besides, maybe if he made her promise not to say anything, he'd be in the clear.

"Mama said that I don't need to learn how to use a weapon." Lainey deadpanned, glancing at Mischief rolling around in some hay.

"And do you always listen to everything that Mama says?" He raised a disbelieving eyebrow.

"Good point."

* * *

"Lainey, come here honey." Clint called the child as he came through the door with his three children.

After he taught Lainey the basics of archery, he had to go pick the kids up from Laura's mother's house, so she and Laura decided to make dinner.

Lainey hated cooking, but she had more fun than she thought she would. They started off by making some spaghetti and meatballs. Once everything was finished, Lainey's eyes caught the muffin mix in the pantry and she mentioned that she had never had any.

So of course, Laura made it her mission to have this child try some blueberry muffins. They cracked the eggs, added the water and stirred, somehow getting that mixture everywhere. Lainey even got the privilege of licking the spoon.

Now she knew why that was everyone's favorite part. The mix was delicious!

But she had to wait until after dinner to actually taste the muffins.

"Go on." Laura nudged her. "I can set the table. I appreciate you helping me today."

Lainey smiled and made her way into the living room, keeping her distance from the three children.

"This is Lila, Cooper, and Nate." Clint pointed to each one. "Kids, this is your cousin, Lainey."

"Hi." Lainey waved shyly, hoping they didn't hate her already.

"Hi." Cooper smiled back.

"Hi!" Lila perked up and ran towards her. "I'm seven, how old are you?"

"Twelve." Lainey answered, a little shocked by how open and outgoing Lila was.

"Do you still play with dolls?"

Lainey shook her head, not wanting to hurt the girl's feelings.

"Oh...….." Lila deflated and perked up in a matter of seconds. "Do you wanna play with me and Cooper? We're gonna play tag!"

If there was a game that Lainey loved to play as much as hide-and-seek, it was tag.

"Yes."

"Yay!" Lila hopped up and down in her excitement, making Lainey wonder if she had anything with sugar before arriving. "We can't play with Nate yet, he's too small."

"Well before you three start playing, Lainey and I made dinner, so wash up and come down to eat." Laura had to smile when she saw them bonding.

"Okay!" Lila bounded up the stairs, practically dragging Cooper along with her, yapping about what other games they could play.

"Wanda called earlier and asked for you." Clint informed Lainey. "She said when you're ready, call her back, she wants to talk to you."

"Did she sound mad?"

"No, she didn't sound upset to me, I think she just misses you."

It had been a while since she snuck off and she hadn't even spoken to Wanda since then. Maybe she was upset with her.

And really, who could blame her? Lainey had left without telling a soul.

She didn't even tell Peter…

Oh no. Peter!

"Is it okay if I call Peter?" She asked suddenly. "He doesn't know if I'm okay, I left without telling him."

"Sure, use my phone." Clint handed the girl a burner phone as Cooper and Lila came back downstairs and sat at the table. "But call him after dinner."

"Okay." She acquiesced and followed him, sitting down in between Nate and Lila.

And just her luck, as soon as she was in reach, Nate yanked on one of her curls, giggling when she yelped and gave him an incredulous look.

" _Ow_!" She frowned at him and pulled her hair out of his hand, not at all finding it funny.

It hurt!

"Nate!" Laura tried not to laugh at the two. "That wasn't nice."

"Funny." He shot Lainey a sweet smile and reached for her hair again.

This time Lainey dodged him and crossed her arms. "That wasn't funny."

"Don't worry, he pulls my hair too." Lila tried to make her feel better. "He just does that sometimes."

"Well it isn't nice." Laura scolded the toddler. "Apologize to Alayna."

"Sowwy Laya." Nate actually apologized contritely, a pout evident on his face.

Lainey sized the child up, narrowing her eyes before smiling at him. He was adorable and she couldn't exactly be mad at him when he pronounced her name like that. "It's okay."

"Kiss please?" Nate opened his arms.

Lainey hated kisses. In fact, Wanda made it her job to tease her about it at every chance she got. She'd lift her up, kiss her cheek, and put her down, watching her rub furiously at her cheek to try and wipe the kiss away.

And as soon as Natasha got the memo, she did the same.

But this was different somehow.

Maybe it was because he asked so nicely, she didn't know, but she let him kiss her and forced herself not to grimace.

"Fank you." Nate smiled and ate his food.

Okay, so maybe it wasn't so bad.

But she still didn't like kisses!

* * *

"Lainey, look who's at the door!" Laura called her niece, allowing the mystery person to step inside.

"Mama!" Lainey smiled, running into her arms. "Can we go to DisneyWorld now?"

"Well hello. I missed you too sweetheart." Natasha rolled her eyes.

"You rolled your eyes! Your ice cream privileges have been revoked!"

"Excuse me Little Miss, I'm the one who buys the ice cream. If my privileges are revoked, how will you get it?" The redhead raised an eyebrow at the cheeky kid.

" _Touche_." Lainey sighed, knowing she couldn't win that one. "Are we going home?"

"Yes, we're going home soon, but first I have to speak with Clint and Laura." She told the child. "Have you been good while I was gone?"

"I'm always good." Lainey answered, grinning when Natasha gave her another look.

"Laura?"

"Hey!"

"She was an angel. Bring her back anytime."

"See? I told you!" Lainey rolled her eyes before she could remember not to.

"Was that an eye roll?" Natasha asked.

"No! I just wanted to look around really fast because you doubted me."

Natasha glanced at Laura, who shrugged and stifled a laugh before turning back to her daughter.

"I'll let that go. Make sure you don't roll your eyes or look around really fast again."

"Okay." Lainey grinned, knowing that she had this woman wrapped around her finger.

"Now go on upstairs and tell Clint to come down here before you start packing."

"Okay."

"And try not to eavesdrop this time, hmm?" Natasha smirked and pushed Lainey in the direction of the stairs.

"I was _not_ eavesdropping!" Lainey whined as she made her way up the stairs, nearly bumping into Clint when she got to the top.

"And don't come down until I call for you!"

"Whoah, slow down." He chuckled. "What's the rush?"

"Mama's here and she wants to talk to you and Auntie Laura." Lainey said nonchalantly before going to the room she had been staying in.

She hadn't even realized that she had called Laura, Auntie Laura, but Clint certainly wasn't going to say anything. She was finally warming up to them and he was going to cherish that.

"Hey Nat." He smiled, seeing his best friend in the living room all in one piece.

"Hey yourself. You taught my kid how to shoot?"

"She told you?" He practically sputtered.

"No." She grinned maliciously. "But you did."

Clint's jaw dropped as he tried to wrap his head around the fact that he walked into that trap.

 _Again._

"Close your mouth, you'll catch flies." Laura smirked and closed his mouth for him.

"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about the Accords." Natasha changed the subject. "The Winter Soldier was triggered and Steve and Sam took off with him. We don't know where they are, but we only have a few hours to find them. I know you don't want to be involved in all of this, but I have a really bad feeling about all of this and Lainey is starting to catch on. I took her phone away, but there's only so much I can keep from her."

"Then why don't you tell her?"

"I don't want her to know Clint." Natasha rolled her eyes. "She has enough on her plate without adding this to it. She's too young to be burden with all this crap."

"Well, I think you should tell her." Clint shrugged. "You'll figure out what to do when you're ready."

Natasha nodded and called Lainey down, forcing a smile on her when the twelve came running down the stairs with her bag and her kitten.

"Can we go to DisneyWorld now?"

"We'll talk about it on the jet, say your goodbyes and let's go."

"Bye!" Lainey hugged the couple and looked at her mother expectantly. "Where are we going?"

"Somewhere."

"Stay safe, alright?" Clint told the woman seriously.

"I always do Clint." Natasha smiled and ushered Lainey into the quinjet. "Tell the kids, I said hi."

"Are we going to DisneyWorld?" The child asked again as they took off.

"No. Sit down."

"Why?" Lainey couldn't help but pout.

Natasha had promised that when she came back, they'd go anywhere she wanted to.

What changed?

"Because we're not!" Natasha snapped.

Lainey flinched and immediately shut her mouth, not wanting to anger mother any further. She had done enough. She should've stopped asking a while ago. Natasha probably thought she was annoying or something.

And if she did, she was right.

They had been joking and having fun before she decided to be so annoying and keep asking her stupid questions.

DisneyWorld was for babies anyway. What did she need to go for?

She should probably apologize.

"I'm sorry." She spoke softly just incase, refusing to even look at Natasha.

"Oh _малышка_." Natasha shook her head, snapping out of whatever angry trance she was in. "You don't have anything to be sorry for. You were just excited. I'm the one who should sorry, I should have never spoken to you that way. It was uncalled for and I should've given you a straight answer. We can't go to DisneyWorld just yet, but we will. I'm sorry."

"Oh." Lainey sighed in relief. "So you don't think I'm annoying?"

"Of course not. I love it when you talk to me. I just have a lot on my mind right now. It has nothing to do with you, although, I would like to hear all about what you did for the past few days."

"Uncle Clint taught me how to shoot and I'm getting good at it! And I made muffins!"

"All by yourself?" Natasha allowed herself to be pulled into the child's world.

"No!" Lainey smiled. "Aunt Laura made them with me and we made dinner together. And I played tag with Cooper and Lila."

"So you had fun?" The woman asked. "That fit you had when I left was unnecessary?"

"Yeah, they're nice." Lainey ignored the last question. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot."

"Why do you look so upset?"

Natasha should've known that Lainey would pick up on her current mood. The kid was perceptive. Perhaps too perceptive.

"Things aren't going well with Uncle Steve and Uncle Tony."

"Why not?"

"Do you remember the Accords?"

"Yes."

"Well, Uncle Steve doesn't want to sign them, but Uncle Tony does and they're disagreeing over the entire thing." The redhead tried to explain to her in a way that she'd understand.

"Why?"

"Because Uncle Steve has a friend who would be in very big trouble if he signed the Accords. But this isn't anything for you to worry about, you understand? We're going to be okay."

"That's why we can't go to Florida?"

Natasha nearly laughed at the innocence of the question before answering. "Yes, that's why."

"Did you sign the Accords?"

"Yes."

"Why?" Lainey always thought that she'd be the last person to sign those documents.

"It was the right thing to do." She responded, choosing to omit the fact that as long as she complied with the government, they wouldn't come after her, and if they didn't come after her, they wouldn't come after Lainey.

She was going to do everything possible to keep that kid safe.

And she was safest with her.

She'd be damned if someone managed to take her away.

* * *

 **A/N: Hellloooo everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! I'm back! I'm sorry it took so long to update, but writer's block hit me again :( The story will start to really pick up from here as we get further into the Civil War plot. Maybe those powers of Lainey's will come in handy and perhaps someone in particular will find out about them ;) Who knows? Anyway, next chapter: The airport battle! Yikes!**


	15. Chapter 15

_"That's why we can't go to Florida?"_

 _Natasha nearly laughed at the innocence of the question before answering. "Yes, that's why."_

 _"Did you sign the Accords?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _"Why?" Lainey always thought that she'd be the last person to sign those documents._

 _"It was the right thing to do." She responded, choosing to omit the fact that as long as she complied with the government, they wouldn't come after her, and if they didn't come after her, they wouldn't come after Lainey._

 _She was going to do everything possible to keep that kid safe._

 _And she was safest with her._

 _She'd be damned if someone managed to take her away._

* * *

 **Chapter Fifteen: Volare**

"Why can't I come with you?" Lainey asked as Natasha led her through the Compound, straight to Wanda's floor.

"Because Little Miss, this doesn't concern you. I need you in a place where I'll know that you're not in any danger." The woman replied, setting Mischief down and getting a bowl of water for her.

After the bombing of the UN, there was no way Natasha was taking any more chances with that kid. They both got lucky and didn't get hurt, but that didn't mean they needed to keep putting themselves in danger.

"But I can help!" Lainey insisted. Natasha didn't know about her powers yet, but she was sure that she could help some other way.

"And you _are_ going to help me." Natasha smirked when Lainey perked up. "By staying right here."

Lainey deflated and stopped herself from rolling her eyes. "That isn't funny."

"Really? I thought it was." The redhead continued to smile as Wanda entered the living room.

"Hi!" Lainey forgot all about how disappointed she was and ran into the older girl's awaiting arms. "I missed you."

"I missed you too. Did you have fun hanging out with Clint?" Wanda grinned.

"Yes! I made muffins and I learned how to shoot, and guess what?"

"You saved the world from villainous aliens?" Wanda joked, poking her side to make her giggle.

"No!"

"I know, you beat Steve up and he's so embarrassed that he hasn't said a word."

"No!"

"Then what?"

Natasha couldn't help but smile as she watched them interact. The two clearly loved each other and they enjoyed being in one another's company. She could've left Lainey at Clint's but she knew the girl would eventually get too homesick to enjoy herself, so she brought her back home and decided to have her stay with Wanda.

Besides, the teen needed some cheering up too. After Lagos, she had reverted right back into her shell and practically locked herself away from the world. Tony didn't help matters when he pretty much kept her inside.

He meant well, but no matter his intentions, Wanda didn't seem to be improving.

Lainey and Wanda needed each other, she'd be an idiot not to see that.

"I got a kitten!" Lainey beamed, running to the kitchen to get the animal before running back and shoving it in her arms.

The kitten meowed and played with Wanda's straight hair, not at all phased by being passed around like an object. She was just content with being held.

She was a spoiled little thing.

"Oh she's adorable." Wanda gushed, tapping the animal on the nose, before setting her down and shooting Lainey a serious look. "I called you a few nights ago and you never called me back, is there any reason? Because I'd also like to know what on earth possessed you to sneak off without telling anyone where you were going."

Lainey gulped and looked at her mother for help. "Mama?"

All the woman did was shrug and motion for her to respond.

"No, Mama's not talking to you, I am. Look at me." The older teen took ahold of Lainey's chin to force her to do just that.

"I wanted to go with Mama." Lainey spoke softly wondering how on earth the conversation took such a serious turn in a matter of seconds.

"So you put your life in danger and snuck off?"

Lainey only responded by hugging the older girl and mumbling a soft, 'sorry'.

"You better be." Wanda felt her tough resolve crumbling as she hugged her back.

She had this all planned out too. Just because Lainey was young and cute, didn't mean that she was allowed to get away with something like this. She was going to scold her to make sure that she knew better for next time, but as soon as she hugged her, the plan went out the window.

She was a softie.

"Are you sure I can't go with you?" Lainey asked Natasha, making sure to change the subject as quickly as possible.

"Yes Lainey, I'm sure." Natasha shook her head. "And if I catch you sneaking off to come after me, you're grounded until the foreseeable future."

Lainey _was_ planning on doing exactly that. Sure it was definitely wrong to go anywhere without telling someone, but she wanted to make sure that Natasha was safe. She didn't really care about her own wellbeing.

But now that the threat was in the air, Lainey found herself wondering whether or not it was worth it to pull another stunt like that.

"No television, no cellphone, no hanging out with friends, and no ice cream. I suggest you think about that before you decide to do something stupid. Understand?"

"…...Yeah." Lainey sighed. "But-"

The preteen cut herself off before she could say anything stupid or incriminating. There was no need for her to get grounded before Natasha even left. That would be a whole other level of lack of self-control and stupidity.

She didn't want to be one of those kids who didn't know when or how to keep their mouths shut.

"Alright." Natasha's face relaxed. "I have to go now."

Lainey really thought that she'd be better at saying goodbye this time, but she realized that she really overestimated herself when tears started flying down her face. "No, not yet."

"Lainey, you can't cry every time I have to go." Natasha told the girl gently. Those fat tears were really breaking her heart. She _hated_ it when Lainey cried.

"Yes I can." Lainey insisted. "And anyway, I'm not crying."

"Come here _малышка_." Natasha opened her arms and allowed the girl to fall into them. " _Вам не о чем беспокоиться. Мама придет к тебе домой. Будь хорошим, хорошо?_ "

Lainey sniffled and nodded, not wanting to let her go. " _Да мама_."

Wanda smiled at the redhead and gently pulled Lainey away from her and settled her into her own arms. "Be safe."

"I will. I'll call to say goodnight every night I'm away Lainey." Natasha attempted to give her something to look forward to.

"Every night?"

"Every night."

"Okay. _Пока мама_."

" _Пока, дорогая_."

* * *

"Alayna! Where are you?" Wanda called for the girl.

She had been looking for her for a half an hour because she apparently made the mistake of telling her that she should get ready to go to bed.

Lainey had overridden F.R.I.D.A.Y. so that she wouldn't be able to tell Wanda where she was, making her little game that much more fun.

Wanda was nearly at her wit's end when she heard a quiet giggle come from the hall closet.

"There you are, you stinker." She mumbled to herself, making her way to the closet. "I guess Lainey doesn't want ice cream before bed. I'm going to have to eat it all by myself."

And no sooner did the words leave her lips, did Lainey come barreling out of the closet.

"I want ice cream!" She giggled and tried to run to the freezer, but a red aura surrounded her and kept her from moving. "Hey, that's not fair."

"I think it's fair, considering I spent all this time looking for you." Wanda smirked and lowered her a few inches before letting her drop onto the floor.

Lainey landed with a grunt, quickly turning around and glaring at Wanda. She wanted revenge, but she knew that she couldn't do the same to the older girl, so she said the first thing that popped into her head. "I'm telling."

How mature.

"Telling who? Your kitten?" Wanda joked, not at all phased by the threat.

" _No_." Lainey rolled her eyes. "I'm telling Mama when she calls."

"I'm so scared." Wanda waved her hand and allowed her red mist to show itself.

"You should be." Lainey stood and stalked over to Wanda, crossing her arms as a serious look crossed her face.

"You're so cute." The Sokovian squeezed her face. "You know that? So cute."

"Stop it!" Lainey tried to wiggle away.

They're little banter was soon interrupted by the ringing of Wanda's phone.

"I'll get it!" Lainey yelled and ran to get the phone, picking it up as soon as it was in her hands. "Hi Mama!" She waved at the screen cheerfully, her annoyance long gone.

"Hi honey, how are you?" The redhead smiled as Wanda came into frame and lifted Lainey up, walking over to the couch with her in tow before sitting down.

She was extremely light for her age, so no one ever had problems lifting her up to move her or throw her onto the couch (which happened often).

To be honest, Lainey wasn't even paying attention to that, she was so locked into her conversation, that she didn't have time to complain about how twelve year olds shouldn't be lifted up like that.

"I'm good. Wanda dropped me." She immediately tattled.

Wanda rolled her eyes and pushed her off of her lap just for good measure, before turning her attention back to Natasha, who looked more than amused.

"Mama! Wanda pushed me!" Lainey whined from her place on the floor.

She looked ridiculous sprawled out with all her limbs in different directions.

"And I'll push you again if you keep tattling like that. Snitches get stitches." Wanda smiled sweetly.

"I definitely don't have enough patience for this." Natasha facepalmed. "Alayna, get off of the floor and sit back down. Wanda stop dropping her, and please for the love of all that is good, stop pushing her around."

Lainey stuck her tongue out at Wanda, knowing that she had practically gotten away with being a brat.

Wanda responded by glaring and turning the camera to face her, so that Natasha could see what was going on.

"Alayna, what did I just tell you? Get off the floor."

Lainey scrambled up onto her feet and gave Wanda a nasty look before plopping back down on her lap.

She made sure that it would hurt the older girl by dropping with all of her weight.

"Ow!" Wanda growled.

"Mama I didn't do anything! I did what you told me to!" Lainey plead not-guilty even though she was far from it.

Natasha pinched the bridge of her nose and took in a deep breath before glaring at both girls. "Whatever is going on between you two, had better be resolved before I get back. I don't want to call again and watch the two of you at each other's throats again, do you understand me?"

"Yes." Wanda responded without hesitation, shocked when Lainey decided to pick at her nails and act as if she didn't hear anything.

"Alayna?" Natasha narrowed her eyes. She loved this kid, she really did, but sometimes she wanted to strangle her.

Mothers are human too.

"I understand." Lainey grumbled reluctantly.

"Now." If it was possible, Natasha's face hardened a little more as she continued to stare them down through the screen. "If you can't behave and get along without me policing you, so be it. Alayna I expect you to be in bed by 8:30 every night I'm gone. Obviously, you need the extra rest."

Lainey's jaw dropped and she began to protest, but Natasha cut her off. "Don't give me that look and don't you dare roll your eyes at me. I can make it 7:00 if you would prefer."

"8:30 is fine."

"That's what I thought." Natasha noticed the smug grin on Wanda's face and decided to address her too. "You can get to bed at 9:00 since you think this is _so_ funny."

Wanda's entire face dropped and she looked at Natasha in disbelief. "You can't do that! I'm not your child! I'm not even _a_ child!"

"Would you like to test that? If you're in bed even a minute later, I will fly right back to that Compound and personally deal with the both of you myself."

Honestly, if someone other than Lainey and Wanda were in the room, they'd probably be busting a gut at how ridiculous the conversation was. It was hilarious. Natasha managed to ground both a twelve year old and an eighteen year old at the same time without even batting an eye.

She felt pretty good about herself, all things considered.

She loved this new fun side of parenting.

"How will you know?" Lainey asked, grasping for any source of dignity she had left.

Wanda swore under her breath in her native tongue and clamped a hand over the child's mouth.

"Stop. Talking." She spoke slowly.

"I'll have F.R.I.D.A.Y. report to me every single day. You two think you're tough and untouchable? You've just met your match. Get to bed."

And with that, the screen went black as Natasha hit the 'end call' button.

"I'm gonna kill you!" Wanda shouted, causing Lainey to skitter off of her lap and dash to her room, slipping and sliding in her socks along the way.

Natasha watched the entire thing unfold as F.R.I.D.A.Y. showed it all to her through the surveillance cameras.

"Shall I alert them that you're watching?" The AI asked.

"No." She shook her head, enjoying the show. "They still have about thirty more minutes until they need to be in bed." She sipped her tea and smirked.

"You certainly are diabolical Agent Romanoff. I like you." If F.R.I.D.A.Y. could smiled, she definitely would be grinning from ear to ear.

* * *

"I said I was sorry!" Lainey screeched as Wanda chased her around the living room while Mischief watched, completely unaffected by it all.

"Vision and I are just friends!" Wanda hollered.

They had been threatening each other for days, Mischief figured they would have to calm down sooner or later. And if they ended up killing each other, then she'd have the entire floor to herself.

Either way, she won.

Stupid humans.

"Stop running!" Wanda suddenly grew very serious and stopped chasing Lainey.

Lainey froze to a halt just in time to watch an explosion go off from the window."What was that?"

"I don't know, stay away from the window." Wanda forgot all about how angry she was at the child, and pulled her into herself as Vision phased through the floor. "What is it?"

"Stay here, please." The android told them, once again disappearing to see what was going on.

"Do you think-" Wanda covered Lainey's mouth with her hand and turned around, using her free hand to make a knife fly across the room, stopping at the last second before it reached the intruder's face.

"Guess I should've knocked." Clint shrugged, pushing the knife away, more than glad it never reached him.

"What are you doing here?" Wanda let Lainey squirm out of her grip as she questioned Clint.

"Disappointing my kids." Clint spoke bitterly, shooting arrows on both ends of the room before grabbing Wanda's hand to pull her towards the door. "I'm supposed to go water skiing. Cap needs our help. Come on."

"I can't leave, I'm babysitting."

"I'm not a baby! I can take care of myself!"

Both adults ignored Lainey's little outburst and continued their conversation.

"I'll send Fury out here to watch her. We need to leave. Now."

"Clint!" And with his impeccable timing, Vision once again, phased into the room, stopping the two from leaving. "You should not be here."

"Really?" The archer turned around and gave the android an incredulous look. "I retire for what, like five minutes, and it all goes to shit?"

Lainey crept over to the couch and picked up her kitten, ready to run and hide if anything escalated, but unwilling to leave the scene before her.

The Avengers were falling apart.

Right in front of her eyes.

"Please consider the consequences of your actions." Vision tried again.

"Okay, they're considered." Clint watched as the arrows he planted formed a forcefield around Vision and trapped him. "Lainey stay right here and don't move. Someone will be here in a few hours to watch you." He informed the twelve year old before turning his attention back to Wanda. "Okay, we gotta go…...It's this way."

"I've caused enough problems." The brunette played with her sleeves, not feeling right about any of this.

Especially leaving Lainey to her own devices.

"You gotta help me Wanda." Clint sighed. "Look, you want to mope, you can go to high school. You want to make amends, you get off your ass... Dammit." He muttered as Vision broke free.

Lainey screamed and ducked behind the couch, not wanting to see what was going on. She could only hear grunting and flopping, which really made her curious as to what was going on.

Were they actually fighting each other?

"Clint, you can't overpower me." She heard Vision say.

"I know I can't. But she can." Clint's voice sounded very strained as if he was in a chokehold.

"Vision, that's enough. Let him go. I'm leaving." Wanda allowed her fingers to do all the work for her.

"I can't let you."

"I'm sorry." She whispered, pulling her hands apart to reveal a bright red glow.

"If you do this, they will never stop being afraid of you."

"I can't control their fear. Only my own."

That was the final straw. Wanda used her energy to push Vision multiple stories below.

Lainey decided to peek out from behind the couch and watch in awe as Vision was smashed through the floor.

"Oh...…come on." Clint whistled in shock. "We got one more stop."

"I need to bring Lainey with me. Natasha left her with me, I can't just leave her alone even if its just for a couple of hours." Wanda told the man.

"Alright." He sighed, tired of trying to convince her to let Fury take care of the kid. "Lainey, let's go."

He didn't really want to be the one to explain to Natasha that he left her there alone anyway. It was safer this way.

* * *

"Cap." Clint greeted the super soldier as he got out a the little beetle he was driving.

"You know I wouldn't have called if I had any other choice." Steve informed him., not wanting to make it seem like he didn't respect the man's choice to retire.

"Hey man, you're doing me a favor. Besides, I owe a debt." Clint motioned to Wanda, who smiled at Steve.

"Thanks for having my back."

"It was time to get off my ass," She parroted what Clint had told her hours prior.

"How about our other recruit?"

"He's ready and rarin' to go." Clint opened the van door. "Had to put a little coffee in him, but…he should be good."

When the door opened the whole way, everyone was able to see Lainey poking a man's cheek as her kitten crawled all over him.

"You brought the kid?" Steve asked, clearly panicking.

"Look, before you get all antsy, we didn't really have much of a choice. Wanda was watching her and we didn't think it was a good idea to leave a kid home alone." Clint explained.

"Oh my goodness." Steve ran a hand over his face. "Lainey come here." He lifted the girl onto his hip and looked her straight in the eyes before grumbling. "Natasha is going to kill us."

"Hi Sam." Lainey waved. "Hi man I don't know."

Bucky smiled and waved his metal arm, making her face light up with fascination. "My name's Bucky, Doll."

"Oh, well hi Bucky. I'm Lainey."

"Watch it Bucky, she seems sweet now, but wait until you get to know her." Wanda warned, making the man crack a genuine smile.

Lainey frowned and buried her face in Steve's neck, vowing never to speak to Wanda again.

"What timezone is it?" Scott grumbled as he slowly cam back to the land of the living.

"Come on." Clint waved him out of the van. "Come on."

Scott stumbled out of the van, bitter at being woke up with all that noise, but as soon as he laid eyes on Steve, he turned into the ultimate fanboy.

"Captain America." He shook the man's hand, practically gushing over him.

"Mr. Lang." Steve greeted, clearly amused.

"It's an honor." Scott beamed, still shaking his hand. "I've been shaking your hand too long. Wow! This is awesome! Captain America." He looked at Wanda. "I know you too, you're great!"

The awkward hero worship even made Lainey peek out from Steve's neck just in time to see Scott feel his muscles. "Jeez. Ah, look, I wanna say, I know you know a lot of super people, so…...thinks for thanking of me.."

That mess of a sentence was enough to make the preteen groan and bury her face back in its hiding place.

"Hey Sam!"

 _"_ What up Tic Tac?"

"Uh, good to see you. Look, what happened last time when I-"

"-It was a good audition, but it'll never happen again."

"Oh, you're the guy that beat Sam up? That was so cool!" Lainey looked at Scott in pure amazement, much to Sam's chagrin.

"Kid, how did you even find out about that? You weren't even there." Sam growled.

Everyone seemed to be growling at her lately.

What a pack of wolves.

"I saw the surveillance footage and you really need to work on not underestimating the people you fight, because I think that's-"

"-Okay!" Steve put a finger to Lainey's lips before she could dig herself into trouble. The only plus side to this, was it was lightening the mood and making Bucky smile. "Did they tell you what we're up against?"

"Something about some...…psycho-assassins?" Scott honestly had no clue, he was half-asleep when this was all explained to him.

"We're outside the law on this one. So, if you come with us, you're a wanted man."

"Yeah, well...….what else is new?" Scott shrugged.

"We should get moving." Bucky jumped back into the conversation after a while.

"We got a chopper lined up." Clint informed them of their little getaway plan.

" _Dies ist eine Notsituation. Alle Passagiere müssen den Flughafen sofort evakuieren._ " The PA system cut in.

"They're evacuating the airport."

"Stark." Sam grouched.

"Stark?" Scott asked, clearly confused.

"Suit up."

Looks, like this was going to be harder than they thought.

"Lainey, I need you to stay out of sight, do you understand me?" Steve spoke sternly, leaving no room for any arguments.

"I want to see Mama.'

"And you will see her, just stay out of the line of fire."

"You're going to fight each other?" Lainey asked, her eyes widening in panic.

"Not if we don't have to." He tried to reassure her. "Just stay somewhere where I know you'll be safe. No one here wants you to get hurt."

"Okay." Lainey cuddled into Mischief and watched as all the adults got down to business.

She looked around and found a place to watch everything without anyone knowing she was actually there.

The roof of the garage.

Sure it was high, but it was better than nothing.

She watched as everyone on Cap's side and everyone on Tony's side stood in opposition of each other.

This didn't look very promising from her end.

"Wow, it's so weird how you run into people at the airport. Don't you think that's weird?" Tony asked Rhodey, sporting a new shiner.

"Definitely weird." The man responded, with a lack of humor in his tone.

"Hear me out Tony." Steve tried to solve this with words. "That doctor, the psychiatrist, he's behind all of this."

Lainey's eyebrows furrowed.

She thought that this was all about the Accords. How much was everyone keeping from her?

She watched as a man in a cat like suit leapt over a truck and landed near Steve. "Captain."

"Your highness."

So Prince T'Challa was a superhero too?

How ignorant to this situation was she?

"Anyway." Tony cut the small talk. "Ross gave me thirty-six hours to bring you in. That was twenty-four hours ago, Can you help a brother out?"

"You're after the wrong guy."

"You're judgment is askew. Your old war buddy killed innocent people."

"And there are five more super soldiers just like him. I can't let the doctor find them first Tony. I can't."

Lainey's full attention was peaked when her mother stepped forward cautiously, like her first instinct in this situation wasn't to fight.

"Steve…...you know what's about to happen. Do you really want to punch your way out of this one?"

After she asked the question, nobody said a word. Nobody moved.

Tensions were too high to let go now.

Everyone knew what was going to happen, but no one was willing or able to stop it.

"Alright, I've run out of patience." Tony cupped his hands over his mouth and yelled. "Underoos!"

Lainey was shocked to see Peter in his suit, shoot a web and steal Steve's shield.

This wasn't going to end well at all.

"Nice job kid."

"Really Tony, you brought the kid into this?" Steve furrowed his covered eyebrows. "You've clearly been busy."

"And you've been a complete idiot!" Tony got right down to the insults. "Dragging in Clint. 'Rescuing' Wanda from a place she doesn't even want to leave, a safe place. I'm trying to keep…...I'm trying to keep you from tearing the Avengers apart."

"You did that when you signed."

What was going on? Why were they fighting like this? Why couldn't they just talk this out? Were they that far gone that all they could do now was fight?

"Alright, we're done." Tony growled. "You're gonna turn Barnes over, you're gonna come with us. Now! Because it's us! Not a squad of J-SOC guys, with not compunction about being polite…...Come on." He practically pleaded.

Steve shook his head and lifted his webbed fists. "Alright Lang."

Scott shrunk and crawled onto the shield, growing in size at the last minute, before knocking Peter down and handing Steve his shield back. "I believe this is yours Captain America."

Lainey took this as her chance to sneak away somewhere else, she couldn't just sit here and watch everyone fight one another.

She had to do something.

She trained with Wanda enough to know how to defend herself, so if worse comes to worse she could rely on her powers to help her.

Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.

She ran down so many flights of stairs that she couldn't keep count and made her way onto the tarmac, making sure that she wouldn't be seen.

She watched as Scott weakly attempted to fight her mother, but got tossed flat on his back for his effort.

"Look, I really don't want to hurt you." Is what he said.

"I wouldn't stress about it."

But before Scott hit the ground, he shrunk and flipped Natasha onto her back instead, watching as she flipped over, trying to figure out where he was.

When she found him, she used her taser and zapped him, causing to him to fly and hit a truck close by.

This was pure and utter chaos. Everyone was fighting, things were exploding, people were getting hurt!

It was all so confusing.

Lainey didn't know whose side she was on.

She didn't know whose side she _should_ be on.

"Captain Rogers. I know you believe that what you are doing is right. But for the collective good, you must surrender now."

So Vision _did_ make it out of the Compound.

It sure did take him a while to get here.

"What we do now Cap?" Sam asked as 'Team Iron Man' Stood before them all once again.

"We fight." Steve schooled his features.

There was no other way.

"This is gonna end well." Natasha thought aloud as they began to move forward.

"They're not stopping!"

Even Peter wanted no part of this at this point. It was all fun and games before, but it got a little bit too serious for his liking.

"Neither are we."

And that was the moment when all pandemonium broke loose.

If Lainey thought it was bad before, she didn't know what it was now.

They really looked like they were trying to kill each other!

She looked around at everyone and caught her mother fighting with Clint. Neither one of them was winning.

They just kept pinning each other down.

"We're still friends, right?" Natasha asked, wanting to make sure.

"Depends on how hard you hit me." Clint smirked, only for Natasha to pin him for the millionth time.

She got ready to kick him, but a familiar red aura stopped her and flung her into a truck.

But before her head could hit the ground, a purple aura stopped her momentum and gently set her on the ground.

"Oh my-" She gasped, looking at her daughter in shock. "What the _hell_ are you doing here? Do you have any idea how dangerous this is? This isn't a game Alayna!" She scolded, making her way over to her, ignoring the chaos around her. "And how long have you been keeping this little secret from me?"

"I'm sorry."

"No Alayna. Answer me. I'm not joking." Natasha looked her over to make sure she wasn't hurt, sighing in relief when she found that she wasn't.

"I've had these powers for months now…...I didn't tell you cause I thought you'd be mad. And I was right."

"No. You don't get to play that card with me anymore. We're way past that. I'm pissed off because you hid this from me and you crawled into a war zone! This is no place for you!"

"I'm sorry. But when Uncle Clint went to get Wanda, they brought me with them."

"They what?!" Natasha snapped, her nose flaring as she grabbed onto Lainey's arm to keep her from running.

"I didn't run off again! I promise! Mama, you're scaring me."

Natasha loosened her grip just a little bit, but she continued scolding the girl.

"Did they bring you out on the tarmac?"

"No."

"No! Then what do you think you're doing here?!"

"I couldn't just sit and watch!"

"You couldn't just sit and watch, so you decided to fight in a battle that doesn't concern you?! What am I going to do with you?! Do you not realize what you've just done?!"

"What did I do?" Lainey furrowed her eyebrows.

"You've just revealed yourself. Now you're in danger. If you were an adult, you'd be on Ross' Watchlist. What you did is irreversible."

"I didn't know." Lainey tried to make amends. She had never seen Natasha this angry. Especially not at her. Never at her. "Mama, I'm sorry. I'll never do anything like this again, I promise you."

"You won't. Now move." Natasha was way too livid to listen to reason.

"Mama?" Lainey's lip quivered at the foreign look in her eyes.

"I said move." Natasha threw Lainey over her shoulder and stalked over to where the remaining helicopter was, setting her down on the ground to stand in front of her. "You're grounded. I don't know for how long, but you're grounded. You're not leaving my side for anything, do you understand me?"

If these were better circumstances, maybe Lainey would've asked something smart like, 'what about going to the bathroom?', but she knew better.

"Yes...…Are you still mad at me?"

"Very." Natasha replied shortly.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do better this time."

Natasha's resolve wavered just a little bit, but she refused to give in.

"Mama?" Lainey's face began to crumble in such a way that she had to turn away from her.

But she didn't respond to her. She was too upset and she was trying to gather her thoughts.

She didn't want to say anything that she may not be able to take back. She probably already said something she couldn't take back, why would she add anything more?

Parenting was definitely not easy.

What was she supposed to do now? Hold her? Let her cry? There were no parenting books for this type of scenario.

"Mama…..." Lainey tugged on her arm, making her snatch it away.

She could've shocked herself on one of her tasers if she kept pulling like that.

But Lainey didn't know that. All she knew was she tried to seek a little bit of comfort from the woman and she was denied.

And that was just fine.

She didn't _need_ Natasha. She could get by on her own.

Allison was probably laughing from the dark corner of her cell at how stupid Lainey was to believe that someone could possibly love her unconditionally.

She wasn't going to be laughed at or used ever again. From now on, she was her own person who didn't need or rely on anyone else.

So she dragged her sleeve across her face and wiped away her tears, took a deep breath and let a blank look cross her features.

All of a sudden, the hangar began to collapse, interrupting Lainey's villain origin story. The rubble began to fall at an increased rate and stopped right before it hit the ground, allowing Steve and Bucky to make it through to the other side.

They were completely shocked to find out that Natasha had been there the entire time, waiting for them.

"You're not gonna stop." She stated.

"You know I can't." Steve responded sadly, not even noticing that T'Challa had arrived behind them.

"I'm gonna regret this." Natasha shrugged and shot a Widow's Bite and T'Challa, stunning him. " _Go_." She stressed, shooting him again.

That kept him down long for Steve and Bucky to escape on the quinjet and make their way to their destination.

Hopefully.

"I said I'd help you find him, not catch him." She spoke almost regretfully. "There's a difference."

"You should have thought of your child Agent Romanoff." T'Challa glared. "What will happen to her now?"

* * *

"Stay put." Natasha told Lainey, bringing her to the waiting room of Medbay at the Compound, before walking away. "Don't move."

To anyone else, she looked calm. But on the inside, she was frazzled. She was a criminal now, she just knew that T'Challa had called and informed Ross about what she did.

She couldn't give Lainey up. She loved that kid. She _needed_ that kid.

Even if she hadn't been acting like it for the past few hours.

Now that she cooled off, she could finally speak to her and lay out all her concerns. It wasn't fair that she had been dragged into all of this and then got yelled at for trying to help.

Sure, what she did was dangerous, but did anyone really expect her to sit still and just watch while everything she had grown to love just fell apart?

She was an idiot.

None of this was Lainey's fault and yet, here she was, yelling at the kid as if she had something to do with it.

She didn't even know half of what was going on.

That was Natasha's fault for keeping her in the dark all this time.

"The doctors say he shattered L4 through S1. Extreme laceration in the spinal cord. Probably looking at some form of paralysis." Tony moved behind her.

"Steve's not gonna stop. If you don't either, Rhodey's gonna be the best case scenario." Natasha had heard all about how Rhodey was accidentally shot out of the sky, but it _needed_ to end there, because if it escalated any further, someone was going to die.

"You let them go Nat." Tony shot at her bitterly.

"We played this wrong." She tried to be the voice of reason, but Tony wouldn't listen.

" _We_? Boy, it must be hard to shake the whole double agent thing, huh? It sticks in the DNA."

That one cut deep. Of all people, Natasha would have never thought that Tony would be the one to use her past against her.

She was wrong.

"Are you incapable of letting go of your ego for more than a damn second?" She fired back.

"T'Challa told Ross what you did, so…...they're coming for you. What are you going to do about the kid? You're a criminal now, CPS'll be knocking on your door so fast it'll make your head spin. All your covers are blown. What's your big plan now?"

"Oh screw you Tony. I don't care about any problems you may have with me, but don't you dare bring that kid into this. How old are you? You weren't 100% right about any of this and you know it, you let your emotions get the better of you and now you're alone. Again. What's _your_ big plan? I'm not the only one who needs to watch their back."

And with that, she was gone.

Tony would never say this out loud, but he knew he was wrong.

But it was too late.

Nothing would ever be the same again.

Lainey watched as her mother angrily stalked back over to her, in some kind of rush, picking up their bags and pulling her up out of her seat towards the exit.

"Let's go."

"Go? Go where?" Lainey asked. Her mother made her pack a simple bag of things for her and her kitten, but she never asked why.

"I don't know, but we can't stay here."

"Why? What's wrong? Why can't we stay here anymore?"

"We're on the run kiddo. T'Challa told the Secretary of State all about what I did, now we have leave. It isn't safe here anymore."

"Are we gonna be okay?" Lainey pushed her little pity party aside and became serious.

"Of course we will. I'll make sure of it."

"Mama?" Lainey called softly. "I'm not going to an orphanage...…am I?"

"Not while I'm around. You're staying with me. You're my daughter and that's that."

"Period?"

"Period."

* * *

 **Вам не о чем беспокоиться. Мама придет к тебе домой. Будь хорошим, хорошо? - You have nothing to worry about. Mama will come home soon. Be good, okay?**

 **Да мама - Yes Mama.**

 **Пока мама - Bye Mama**

 **Пока, дорогая - Bye Honey.**

* * *

 **A/N: Hellooooo! I'm glad I got the airport battle out of the way! It was pretty hard to write, but i think I managed. Well that marks the end if Civil War! Now they're on the run and Natasha knows about Lainey's little gift. Any thoughts on what should happen while they're running from the government? Reviews and requests are always welcome. Have a great week!**


	16. Author's Note

**Hello everyone! I'm very sorry for the long wait, but this is not a chapter. I have decided to put this story on hiatus until after the Black Widow movie comes out, because I want to add Lainey into the mix without the plot conflicting with my own. So instead, I have published a series of one shots and what ifs called, These Eyes Shine Just For You. Requests are always welcome and greatly appreciated! XOXOXOXO**


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